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Aleister Crowle\'
THE COMPLETE
ASTROLOGICAL WRITINGS
containing
A TREATISE ON ASTROLOGY
UBER 5%
HOW HOROSCOPES ARE FAKED
by Cor Scorpionis
BATRACI-IOPHRENOBOOCOSMOMACIIIA
S.'6:fl
-. -+--
Edited with annotations by
John Symonds
and
Kenneth Gram
DUCKWORTH
First published in 1974 by
Ctrald Duckworth & Co, Ltd,
The Old Piano Factory
43 Clouculer Crescent, London NWI
CONTENTS
© 1974 John Symonds and Kenneth Grant
All rights reserved, No part of this
publication may be reproduced, stored in a
rttritval system, or transmitttd, in any
form or by any means, dtctronic, mtchanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without
the prior permission of tht copyright owner,
Editors' Introduction
ISBN 0 7156 0806 I
Typsdting by Specialised Offset Services
Limited, Liverpool
Printcd in Greal Britain by Unwin Brothers Ltd,
The Gresham Press, Old Woking, Surrey,
I
vn
I
A TREATISE ON ASTROLOGY, UBER 536
Preface
3
The Essential Dignities of the Planets
The Triple Tn'nity of the Planets
8
The General Principles of Astrology
The l\:faster Key to Astrology
The Technical Elements of Astrology
The Twelve I-louses of Heaven
The Aspects of the Planets
How to Set up a Figure of the Heavens
The General Principles of Judging a Figure
7
9
20
23
25
25
27
31
The General Signification of the Planets, Signs
and Houses
Man and the Universe
II
III
Neptune
Neptune in the Zodiacal Signs
56
61
Neptune and the Other Planets
62
Neptune in the Twelve Houses of Heaven
Uranus
Uranus in the Zodiacal Signs
Uranus in the Twelve Houses of Heaven
Index
33
53
82
118
121
169
HOW HOROSCOPES ARE FAKED
207
BATRACHOPHRENOBOOCOSMOMACHIA
215
221
Editors' Introduction
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which had lodges
London,
in
Paris,
Edinburgh,
Bristol
and elsewhere, in­
structed its members in various branches of occultism. The
more
advanced
attributions
of
brctluen
the
were initiated
astrological
forces
into the
to· the
secret
Tree of
Life - the planets were attributed to the Sephiroth. the
zodiacal signs to the Paths of the Tree - and the relationship
of both systems of astrology and the Qabalah to the Tarot.
Crowley began his study of astrology as soon as he entered
this magical Order in 1898. lie was then twenty-three years
of age. His attitude to astrology was basically magical; he was
not a dedicated astrologer but a magician who used astrology
as one of his weapons. This meant that he was less concerned
with astrology as a predictive science than as a means of
assessing for magical ends his own relationships with people.
Astrology therefore played a minor role in his activities, and
he left only one work on the subject.
A
Treatise
Otl
Astrology
was
written
1917·18. Crowley also called the work
numerical equivalent of the Hebrew
in
America in
Libf'r 536. 536 is the
word Maslath, which
signifies the Sphere of the Fixed Stars, i.e. the Zodiac. It is
thus an appropriate number for a work on astrology. An
earlier essay entitled
Hatrachaphrellobaocosmomachia, which
The Equinox during
was published in Crowley'S periodical
1913, is included
here because it deals �vith the magical
practice of expanding consciousness to the stars and planets.
The word 'Batrachophrenoboocosmomachia' is made up of
the Greek words for Frog Mind Ox World Battle, and is a
play on the titJe of tJ1e Homeric mock epic, the Batrachomy­
omachia
the
usc
or 'Battle of the Frogs and Mice'. The idea behind
of
this
barbarous
name,
Batrachophrclloboocos-
momachia
Editor's Introduction
Aleisler Crowley
VIII
antagonism to the principles of applying common sense to
- that is, in pronunciation or vibration - is that it
the science.'
is supposed to create a sense of vertigo in which the mind is
freed from its ordinary bounds. Consciousness - so the
As the work was not commissioned by a publisher, and
was never published, it is rather difficult to sec how Evan­
theory goes - is exalted to infinity by this method.
geline tried to cheat Crowley out of 'the profits'.
Also included in this volume is a little-known essay of
Crowley's entitled 'How Horoscopes are Faked', which
Crowley did not continue the work on his own. This is
surprising for
appears here for the first time in book form. It was written
he stopped writing on astrology altogether; he had more
important things to do . His first task was to found his Abbey
scorpion, a name probably chosen because of the stinging
nature of the author's remarks. The essay was published in
The International,
he had the time, the knowledge and the
creative force_ And when he left America for Europe in 1919,
in 1917 under the name of 'Cor Scorpionis', me heart of the
of Do What Thou Wilt in Cefalu, where he soon set himself to
a monthly New York periodical which,
write his A utolragiography or
Confessio ns , in which, although
along with its stable-companion, The Fatherland
Crowley
was the editor of The Fatherland - was disseminating
he included his natal chart, he made no comment on the
German propaganda in these war years.
disposition of the planets.
-
The idea of writing A
Treatise on Astrology
In his old age, he published
- it wa,� to be
Tire Book of Thotlr,
his last
treatment of the subject - arose ou{ of Crowley'S
major work, an interpretation of the Tarot, based on the
discussions with Evangeline Evans whom he described as 'the
symbolism of the New Aeon. The New Aeon had begun in
a
complete
1904, inaugurated by Crowley's receiving from his Holy
most famous astrologer in the States'. He said of her in his
The Book of the Law or the new
The Book of Thoth are
ConfessiOTIS that she made from astrology 'fifty thousand
Guardian Angel (Aiwass)
dollars a year [butl did not know that the solar system was
bible for mankind. Two pages of
essentially
devoted to
a disk. She thought the planets were stuck at
generous help with the manuscript, to �Ir Raymond �Iander
Neptune takes fifteen years or so to pass
and �Ir Joe �Iitchenson for the material of a footnote dealing
through a sign of the Zodiac, and told her clients that
with the theatre, and to �Ir Edward Owen �Iarsh for several
Neptune being in such and such a sign at their birth, they
helpful suggestions.
must possess various curious powers. When I pointed out that
this applied to everyone born in three lustres, she was at first
John Symonds
bewildered, then incredulous; and, proof being produced,
Kenneth Grant
angry and insulting.'
They had in fact been working together on
Liber 536;
it
was to be published under both their names, and her mind
and style are discernible in the text. But the collaboration
broke down, and the work was never finished; Crowley was
not an easy man to get on with. Evangeline Evans' views on
Crowley are not extant, but here is Crowley's summary of
Miss Evans: 'She wanted me to write
a
zodiac and the Tree of Life. They arc
Our thanks arc due to Commander Charles Drage for his
thirty years of daily use of the Ephemeris, she had never
observed that
the
reprimed here, immediately after Crowley'S Preface.
random in the sky like so many plums in a suet pudding. In
book on astrology for
her. The plan failed through her persistent efforts to cheat
me out of the profits, and her obstinate ignorance of the
elementary facts of nature combined with an unconquerable
1_
e,L
cJ,,,-- tL(.""J
t'"c
/:,hcl,
rl
A TREATISE ON ASTROLOGY:
LIBER 536
1
Preface
Astrologers sometimes make mistakes. From this fact, which
even
they are scarcely sufficiently
brazen to dispute, it
follows with mathematical certainty that astrology is not a
science but a sham, a quackery and a fraud. I Contrast its
shameful uncertainty with medicine, where no doctor ever
lost a patient; with law where no lawyer ever lost a case, or
even with arms, where no soldier ever lost a battle!
It is true that nine times out of tcn, an astrologer glancing
at a stranger can tell at what hour of the day he was born.
This must be guesswork, for we do not see how it is done or
can be done. It is an obvious canon of all sound philosophy
that unless we know exactly how things happen, we must
deny that they do happen, or, if ever philosophy cannot so
far close eyes on actuality, we must ascribe them to chance.
Thought of this altitudinous brilliance is the guarantee of
human progress; it reminds one of the sun rising over the
crest of some mighty pyramid of rock and ice, crowned with
the everlasting snows. True it is that in all cases, an astrologer
in the front rank of his profession, gives good advice, kind,
shrewd, disinterested and worldy·wise, yet inspired b y a
diviner wisdom such as the fact that he spends his life in the
contemplation of the noblest phenomena of nature, that the
Soul behind them cannot but operate to bestow; true also
that any astrologer of eminence can poim to hundreds of
people whose life, honour, and property have been preserved
1. This is a typical example of Crowley's irony. In his introduction
to Magick he writes: ' frater Perdurabo I CrowleyI is the most honest of
all the great religious teachers. Others have said: "Believe me!" He says:
"DQn't believe me!'" In the present work, Crowley is soon saying, 'If
there be any person of the present day so ignorant as not to recognise
the value of Astrology . . .'
Preface
A leister Crowley
4
through his advice. Blit what do these facts prove? What are
we to think of any man who docs not cam his living honestly
by gambling on Wall SHeet, or faking antique furniture, or
adulterating the food of the people, or wrecking railroads, or
manufacturing the instruments of war? Why, the fellow is a
cheat, a scoundrel. The idle wretch polishes off his daily 'evil'
in eighteen hours to squander the remaining six in the
hideous debauch of sleep.
What i s to be done? Thank God, degenerate as our age may
be in some respect, we have a fairly efficient police system.
Well, then, send a detective to the astrologer; let her go in
with her eyes red with tcars; let her rock with sobbing as she
tells of how her only child lies dying, and all the doctors have
given up hope. Perhaps the astrologer, for all the knavery and
cunning which enable him to pick the pockcts of so many
thousand people, may be fool enough to uttcr a few words of
comfort. Then the matter is simple; justice can be done. The
police take action, and fine and imprisonment follow. The
detective is complimented on the cleverness of her plans; her
salary is raised and a Free People march ever onwards, singing
in the sunlight, toward that City which is God.
The age
easy-going
is
to
too
mealy-mouthed, too
sentimental, too
deal radically with crime. Even murderers
nowadays have a good chance of escaping the electric chair;
and the astrologer is worse than the murderer, for he touches
not the mere vile body. but the pocket. We cannot avoid
death, but we can die rich. Thcre is even an added blasphemy
in the crime of the astrologer, for we know of What Awful
and Beneficient Being - a name too sacred to utter lightly­
the Dollar is the incarnation. Yet pause, there may be a good
reason for the tenderness of the law toward the astrologer. It
is so certain that any community can destroy its helpless
members, especially when they are women, by hanging them
or burning them, and certain communities have a splendid
record and a long experience of witch-baiting: statesmanship
has abandoned these methods for others less effective on the
surface, it argues some wiser consideration, some subtler
motive, some nobler and loftier plan for the uplifting of the
human race, than the unthinking mind can grasp.
But let us put ourselves in the position of some patriotic
statesman!
Here
we
sit,
tlIe
btoad
5
and
noble forehead
corrugated in the agony of intense thought, tlIe firm chin
resting on the hand, the venerable beard quivering with
emotions less human than divine. We brood upon the True,
the Beautiful; from time to time we sigh, as we think of the
Incommensurable, the Absolute, or the Greatest Good. We
gaze from fearless and untroubled eyes upon the world, and
the words, half-formed, die in godlike SOlTOW upon our lips,
'AJas, humanity!' And as we renect, there comes to us the
burning conviction that money is not an unmixed blessing.
Prosperity tends to sap the morality of the Common People.
Virtue nourishes in communities of simple manners and fades
when luxury spreads her vampire wings, money may be a
curse. We realise that many people do not use it wisely_ They
would be better without it.
For example, the class that
squanders its hard-earned dollars upon the wicked astrologer.
But it is not well either that the astrologer should have it.
The desire of it has already led him into crime; the obtaining
of it has conrirmed him in that offence against the laws of
God and man. Yet to suppress the astrologer - the first, rash,
noble impulse of indignation still leaves the money in the
hands of those people who are no doubt better off without
it. A dilemma indeed! Has political wisdom no solution? A
light dawns in those eyes; the brow relaxes its tension, a
beatific smile hovers dove-like on those firm calm lips_ " wiU
not oppress the astrologer', so the Great Idea takes shape in
glory of speech: 'I will merely introduce a Bill to oppress
him_ Then I will advise him privately that I
am
his True
Friend, and that for just a few thousand dollars I can prevent
that Bill from passing into Law. If he cannot understand the
merits of this plan
�
and his brain has probably been stu­
pefied by his devotion to his foolish quackery, in which no
doubt, poor creature, he has a sincere belief - then I will
prosecute him once or t"vice under the old mild law and get
him frightened. Then, surely, he will yield, and the money
,viII be no longer where it can only do harm, in the pockets
of the Common People or the wicked Astrologer, but where
it can only do good, in those of the wise and Patriotic
Statesman.
If this plan has sometimes failed to work as it should, it is
6
/Jleister CrowLey
because [he Astrologer is too often obstinately impervious to
all reason and good sense, as well as to manners and good
taste. He may even exclaim, malicious as a dog cornered by a
gang of street urchins, that on the whole he would rather go
to prison. 'It is not vcry creditable, perhaps, to be at large in
a
country with
such rulers.' So deplorable a temper is
indicative of incorrigible vice, a perversity of the soul plainly
Satanic. Such people are dangerous to a State; they may
perhaps hit back. Perhaps our sterner forefathers were \viSCT
after all; perhaps we should go after the dollars of [he
Common People in some other way, and deal with the
Astrologer by reviving the methods of the inevitable Matthew
Hopkins.2
Unless we can do so, and there is indeed some danger that
those contemptible creatures, the ComJ!lon People, might not
readily acquiesce, it is to be feared that we shall see the ruin
of Civilisation with its greatest glory, our unique political
system, and become impotent witnesses of that catastrophe,
the Triumph of Astrology.
A.C.
THE ESSENTIAL DIGNITIES OF THE PLANETS
The ExaUation of
the Planets
0
b'
Q,
21
n
�
'!I
Planets
Ruling
19·
�
�
�
3·
3·
IS·
IS?
19·
� 14·
·
tl
3
� 2S·
'!' 19·
� 27·
2 . Matthew Hopkins (d.1647), lawyer of Ipswich and Manningtree,
who became the notorious 'Witch-Finder' General, and an authority on
the devil's mark, made by the devil's claw, which may be found on the
body of the suspected person.
Herschel
rules
'Y'
"
II
""
b'
21·
�
�
-
�
21
n
n
21
Ill.
f
l'\
l1)!
S1.
0
the
4
Signs of the
Zodiac
Kerubic
'"
)(
Signs:
Neptune,
the
Common Signs, and Primum Mobile, the 4 Cardinal SighS.
4
A planet is in its Fall when opposite to its Exaltation; in its
Detriment when opposite to its Realm.
8
A h'isln
Crowley
THE TRIPLE TRINITY OF THE PLANETS
'V
The Spiritual
0
The Human (Intellectual)-
'"
The Sensocy (Bodily)
'1/
The Spiritual
h
The Human (Intellectual)'"
�
The Sensocy (Bodily)
'21
The Spiritual
�
The Human (Intellectual)*
�
The Sensory (Bodily)
1
J
1
I
1
I
Self(ego)
The General Principles
�
of Astrology
\ViII
of t he
Self.
The physicaJ constitution of the Universe is the basis of the
4>-
science of Astrology ; and in order to explain from what
principles we deduce our judgments of its movements we
must endeavour to gain a clear idea of the nature of those
Relation
with the
non-ego.
movements.
The Spiritual
0
The Human
'"
The Automatic
The Creative
'21
The Paternal
�
The Passionate
•
The Intuitive
�
The Volitional
�
The Intellectual
For "intellectual"
one might
speaking, a flat disk. It whirls in one plane. The planets
depart slightly from this plane, but only slightly. How this
1
J
I
Consci ousness.
Astronomy, and it is not yet satisfactorily settled. But the
general idea is that there was at one time, we do not know
why or how, an enormous flaming mass revolving in space. In
course of time certain heavier portions collected together by
the force of gravity, and this mass being coherent, was flung
off, retaining. however, its general movement with regard to
space, but having also a revolutionary movement of its own
1
f
in the same plane. This body constantly radiating its heat
Mode of
action on the
non-ego.
into space gradually contracted and solidified. This first body
was the planet Neptune. It is by no means certain that
Neptune is the most distant planet. Students of astronomy
are well aware of how it was discovered. In c?lculating dIe
movement of Uranus certain perturbations were discovered
p;u.,r of S<verily
h
less spherical in shape. This is not the case. It is, roughly
state of affairs came to be, has long been the problem of
Pillar of Mercy
'1/
Many people have an idea that the solar system is more or'
e
Middle Pillar
'V
I
which could not be accounted for by any of the known
l
I
planets. Astronomers were therefore led to imagine Ulat there
Mode of Selfexpression.
say "conscious".
might be some other body yet undiscovered and probably
beyond Uranus. Calculations were made to determine the
probable position of such a body, which was then looked for
with extreme care, and ultimately Adams and Le Verrier
discovered
the
limits
of its possible position with such
accuracy that Galle of Berlin discovered it in
1846.
Further
10
The General Principles of Astrology
A/euler Crowley
II
observations and calculations show that there arc stiU certain
'moons'. These were very small in comparison to the present
movements of Uranus not fully accounted for by Neptune;
orb, cooled quickly,
and there are also perturbations in Neptune himself which
suggests
that
there
may
still
be another planet outside
Neptune. If 5Q, however, the distance is probably very great
indeed. Our reasons for thinking so are based on Bode's Law.
Bode was a German astronomer who flourished in the last
half of the eighteenth and first quarter of the nineteenth
century and the law to which he has given his I arne is as
and lost their internal revolutionary
movement. The moon of the earth, for example, though it
still revolves around the earth, no longer turns upon its own
axis, and always presents to us the same face.
The important item in all this is that all these movements,
complex as they are, and we have made no attempt to
describe that complexity in detail, but merely to give a crude
idea, take place in one plane of no great thickness and in the
follows.
same main directions.
distance of Mercury from the Sun in astronomical units. The
measurably greater than even the farthest of the planets. It is
If we take the number 4 and divide it by 10 we gel the
Now the fixed stars lie about the sun at distances im·
astronomical units being the main distance from the Earth to
impossible for the human mind to form any conception of
the Sun - add 4 to 3 and divide it by 4 and we obtain the
the magnitude of space. These stan; surround the sun com·
to 4 and we get the distance
But to resume the simile of the wheel, if we look along the
of Mars; add twice twice twice 3 to 4 and we get the mean
spokes of that wheel, we shall perceive a narrow band of
distance of the asteroids. This same proportion continues,
stars,
distance of Venus; add twice 3 to 4 and we get t
. he
of the Earth; add twice twice
3
multiplying 3 four times by 2 and adding it to 4, and then
dividing by 10 we get the mean distance of Jupiter. MUltiply·
ing the 3 by 2 once more we get the distance of Saturn; yet
again and we get that of Uranus. With Neptune, however, the
law breaks down. According to that law the mean distance
should be
38.8,
whereas it is only
30.
No rea.! reason is
known for this la�, though it is hoped that light may be
thrown upon the subject by further researches in celestial
mechanics and the evolution of the solar system. The law was
pletely; there is no part of the heavens in which they are not.
and. these
naturally
group
themselves
into twelve
constellations disposed at approximately equal distances. We
pay more attention to these stars because they lie in the same
plane as the general movement of the solar system, and their
influence consequently combines naturally with that of the
planets. Their effects have been studied from time immem·
orial with lhe utmost care and described by ancient astrol·
ogers. To these constellations names have been given. They
are as follows: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo,
Libra,
Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, Pisces.
at least of this service, that it led to the discovery of the
These names are mostly those of symbolic animals. It is very
Asteroids, which are supposed to be the fragmenls of an
fanciful to try to see any resemblance of these animals in the
exploded planet. No satisfactory explanation of the excep·
relative po�itions of the stars concerned. The names have
tion of Neptune to this law has been put forth.
been given because of the astrological significance thereof,
The same process repeated itself several times, and thus
were formed Uranus, Satum,Jupiter, the Asteroids, Mars, the
Earth, Venus, Mercury. Many other bodies were formed in
precisely the same way, but they lacked the principle of
coherence in the same degree and, soon after separating from
the Sun, themselves broke up into Asteroids and meteors,
and this is one of the many proofs that astrology is older
than astronomy.
The materialistic school of philosophy has endeavoured to
give the impression that we possess some real knowledge of
the nature of the forces which we see at work around us.
Such an impression is entirely false. All forces arc essentially
countless millions of which throng inter.planetary space.
mysterious.
Some of these bodies, moreover, behaved at first like the sun
measurement,
We know from observation. comparison and
itself, and threw off smaller bodies of the class w.hich
reasonable conception of their true character. Let us take, for
,
how
they act. We cannot even form any
nit!
Aleister Crowley
12
CCllcral PnllCliJ/es of .Istrology
13
example, the force of gravity. In order to explain its action,
modern chemist or physicist for his definition o f matter, he
will reply to you in temlS identical with tllOsc which were
called 'the ether', They have been obliged to define this ether
used by the philosophers of lhe Middle Ages to define Spirit.
infinitely tenuous, infinitely imponderable. That is to say, it
sciences. He docs not endeavour to conceal his ignorance
men of science have been obliged to postulate a substance
in mathematicill terms. It is infinitely rigid, infinitely clastic,
is not matter at all in any ordinary sense of the word, for it
possesses qualities involving infinities and therefore is rather
theoretical than actual.
In the same way nobody knows what electricity really is.
There is a story of a professor who was declaiming to this
The astrologer is more frank than the professor of other
beneath an elaborately embroidered cloak of metaphysical
phrases. He is content to accept the dictum of the School­
men,
omnia exeunt in myslen" um,
[everything
ends
in
mystery J, by which they meant that i f you follow any idea
far enough - if you keep on asking how and why and whal,
of resting contented with a superficial, half.way
effect before a class of students and wound up by thundering
instead
student in the back of the hall, ovcrcome by the heat or the
blank wall of the inconcci"abJe. If there be any person of the
dramaticaJly. 'Does anybody know what electricity is?' A
explanation, the result is always the same. You reach the
discoursc, had been half asleep. The last sentence arouscd
present day so ignorant as not to recognize tlle value of
the
him read Herbert Spencer's
him and he sprang from his seat from habit. Thcn meeting
cold eye
of
the professor, he became embarrassed,
stammered, 'I knew, Sir, but I've forgotten.' 'J ust my luck,'
astrology and base his judgment on materialistic groups, let
FirSl Principles
"
In that book
which ranks with David Hume's as one of the mqst masterly
retoned the learned man. 'There was only one man in the
treatises on nature, as scen by scientific scepticism, he will
If we take even so simple a phenomcnon as the expansion
of God or of nature is satisfactory to the mind. Nay more, he
whole world who kncw and he has forgotten.'
find it prove with admirable lucidity that no possible theory
of bodies through the action of heat, wc are equally involved
shows that no such thcory is even intelligible to the mind.
molccules of a body move more violently whcn what is called
worry ourselves too much about metaphysics. We had better
in mystcry. There is a son of theory that for some reason the
heat is applied to them, because heat is conceived of as a
mode of manifestation or accompanying attribute of motion.
But these molecules are themselves quite theoretical. Their
existence
has
been
invented in order to explain certain
phenomena of chemical action. These imaginary molecules
arc composed of yet more imaginary atoms, which were
defined, as the name implies, as ultimate indivisible particles
�f homogenous matter, but that was just a century ago, and
s lllce then, all sorts of other phenomena have been observed
which make i t impossible any longcr to imagine the atom as
As practical people, we shall therefore do well not to
acquiesce in the statement that everything is relative and
confine
ourselves
to observing and measuring the forces
which we perceive in action. It is not an argument against
Astrology to inquire why docs tlle movement of a certain
planet produce certain effects. We do not know any more
than the physicist knows why a nerve contracts on the
application of an electric current. We do not wish to make so
philosophical an inquiry. We are only concerned to inform
ourselves as to whethcr it acts. Theoretical
a
prion" consider­
ations must not be advanced in astrology any more than any
a new hypothesis, that of
other science. Such considerations have been the curse of
whether these electrons are matter, he may tell you that, on
science than any other form of human folly. The reader
indivisible - hence
electrons,
and
has
arisen
when you
inquire of the physicist as to
every science. They have done more to retard the progress of
unreasonable theory is that which
sholdd study the works of TJI. Huxley3 on this point. In
into combinations of things which are not. If you ask a
3. Thomas H�nry Huxley (1825-1895), English biologist who
invented th� word 'agnostic'. lie def�nd�d Darwin's Ol'igirl of Spui�s·,
1895, against th� attacks of Bishop Samuel Wilb�rforc�.
the
whole,
the
least
supposes them to be merely strains in the ether. In other
words, the things which are, ha�e been resolved by science
.1It'ister
II
Crowley
The Genl!ral Pn l lClples
former days people would begin their deductions frolll what
they supposed to be an indisputable proof of the attributes
of the Divinity. Whenever they came across a fact which
appeared out of harmony with this preconceived idea of His
nalUrc they tried to explan away the fa�t, but as facts arc
'chicls that \vlllna ding' they saw that their castle in the air
must tumble and consequently resorted to the expedient of
burning any person alive who appeared interested in the
discovery of awkward facts. Such a policy was naturally
suicidal.
of .lslrology
15
prediction. like any other, would not b e a certainty. It wauld
only be a very strong probability, but humanity habitually
actS on probabilities of this kind. If I walk down Fifth
Avenue, a motorcar may smash a wheel or skid or in some
other way go wrong and interfere with my peaceful promen·
ade upon the sidewalk, but I shall be a great fool if I avoid
the sidewalk for any such reason. In other words I habitually
predict that no such accident will occur. So far things have
fallen out according to my expectations.
Now when an astrologer predicts that a person \'I'ith l\lars
theories of nature. Like every sane science, It contenlS itself
in the seventh house afflicted will make an unhappy mar·
riage, if he marry at all, he is employing precisely the same
shooting range - we sec a puff of smoke and hear a report. In
observation and comparison of innumerable facts. I Ie has
Now, astrology has nothing whatever to do with any
with
the
true
scientific
method.
Suppose
we are on a
qualities of sound reason and judgment based on scientific
another part of the ground almost immediately afterwards,
observed and noted and tabulated; filed among his papers are
whatever to suppose any connection between these cvents.
every case,
the same thing happen a hundred times running or evcn
when he sees another such figure in predicting unhappy
we hear a bell ring or see a nag wave. There is no rcason
They may be pure coincidences. Suppose, however, we sec
suppose that we see the nash, hear the shot a hundred times
and that on seventy or eighty occasions the waving of the nag
followed, the situation becomes entirely different. We have,
then, a right to say that there is, in all probability, some
causal connection. It would however still remain incompre.
hensible to us, why a nash in one part of the earth should
cause the waving of a flag in another part. There would be
nothing to tell us that there was a preconcerted arrangement
between the
shooter, the marker, and even if we were
subsequently informed that such was the case, we should still
be at a loss for the motives of such an arrangement, and in
order to discover these we should have to dive into a dozen
sciences, ballistics, history, ethnology, and I know not how
many more. At the end of all that we should find ourselves
up against the great metaphysical problem which we have
already dismissed as improbable.
But it would be quite fair for the observer to draw certain
hundreds of horoscopes in which this position occurs and in
the person born with this position has been
unfortunate in wedJock. He is, therefore, absolutely justified
marriage.
It must not bc expected that any responsible astrologer
elaims to be absolutely right. There arc extreme complexities
in the study of astrology. It appears that there arc certain
unknown forces which may interfere with even the most
probable judgment. There are times, for example, when a
person may pass through very bad aspects without feeling
any ill effects. For some reason or other, those aspects have
not been excited to action. There arc a dozen theories to
account for this apparent irregularity. It i s not possible in this
brief introduction to go into them fully but there are so
many and so subtle forces to take into consideration that it is
occasionally impossible to divine astrologically why any given
event should take place even when the matter is considered
after it has happened.
There is another and exceedingly important point - 'fore·
warned is forearmed'. If a person appears to be in danger of
practical deductions. If he noticed that the flag was waved
drowning, one can avert the threat by keeping him away
utive occasions, he would be perfectly justified in predicting
astrology.
immediately after the shot was fi�d on a thousand consec·
that the next time the nash came the nag would follow. This
from water. This is one of the most useful functions of
It may be, let us grant, that the astrologer is
mistaken, that there is not really any danger as supposed, but
The General Principles of Astrology
A/eisler Crowley
16
17
it cannot do his client any harm to act sensibly and every
influence upon Earth, an influence due to that force called
These considerations apply specially in horary consultations
in opposite directions, they counterbalance each other. The
anxiety
when they are in conjunction and pulling together. The effect
good astrologer is full of worldly wisdom and commonsense.
when the astrologer is sought on account of some pressing
or
trouble; such
natural good judgment as tIle
gravity. When the Sun and Moon arc in opposition they pull
earth is consequently not pulled out of shape so much as
consultant may possess is at such times interfered with by the
is measured by the tides. But this is not at all the doctrine of
cannot be othcnvise than beneficial.
act at a gradually diminishing angle, and the effect upon the
disturbance of his mind and the counsel of the astrologer
However, it would be absurd to ratc so low the claim of
the astrologer to help mankind. On certain main points, such
as the connection of the personal appearance with the sign
rising at the time of birth or the position of the Sun in the
aspects. As the Moon passes away from the pull, these forces
tides also diminishes in a gradual and proportional manner.
The astrological effects do not work in this way at all. It is at
the exact moment of opposition that the effect is produced.
As soon as it is 1 5 or 20 degrees away, it no longer exists, and
Zodiac, as the influence of Saturn in the tenth house or Mars
it is very puzzling, from the philosophical standpoint, why
cause and connection is so enormous that no sane person
us say, and there is a tremendous earthquake. A week later
in the Ascendant, and a thousand others, the probability of
who studies the facts with intelligence and without prejudice,
can fail to be convinced that astrology is a positive, construc­
tive and all but infallible science.
Just as in fractional distillation, the first vapours which
this should be so. Mars approaches the square of Uranus, let
the aspect has passed and we get, nOl as one might suppose,
lesser earthquakes, but no earthquakes at all. One is tempted
to say hastily that this is unreasonable, and it has been
brought f(uward as an argument against astrology. Fortu­
come over are very different in character from those which
nately, however, we have a very good analogy in the science
formation of the planets haS given them very varied natures.
and look out upon the landscape - it is all blurred. Move the
arise from the application of greater heat, so the successive
The subtle influence which is disengaged from them and shed
upon Earth by their rays has been carefully studied and will
be described in the pages of this book. There is nothing
of optics. Take a pair cf field glasses, put them to your eyes
screw backwards and for.'Iards, the blurring
increases or
diminishes somewhat, but there is one particular position of
those glasses which is peculiar to their relation with your own
particularly repugnant to reason in this theory. One has the
optic lenses in which the image suddenly stands up, clearcut
We have daily experience of the difference in the effect
although a slight deviation produces less blurring than a larger
obvious analogy in better-known department o� physics.
produced by the rays of the Sun and those of the Moon, and
we have only to extend this conception in order to include
the other planets.
But there is an
a
pn"on"
difficulty in
accepting Ule postulate that the aspects of the planets have
and luminous. A glass is either in focus or out of focus, and
one, yet there is a perfectly sharp line of demarcation. There
are other analogies such as the phenomenon of the boiling of
water; at 99 centigrade, water is still not boiling, at 100
centigrade it is boiling, and from a physical standpoint, there
any effect. Let us consider this matter carefully. What in the
is more difference between the water at 99 and Ule water at
aspect of one planet to another is the angle subtended at the
However, we do not know why the rays of the planet only
first place do we mean by the aspects of the planets? The
1 00, than between the water at 99 and the water at 1.
eye of the observer by any two of them. Thus, when the
influence each other, only blend their action when they
Moon, and this means that if a str)l-ight line were drawn from
the Sun to the Earth and produced it would pass Lhrough the
is at present largely empirical. We know that certain events
Moon is full, we say that the Sun is in opposition to the
Moon. Now, we do know that this particular aspect has an
strike the earth at particular angles. The science of astrology
on Earth follow certain configurations of the heavens. We
have observed these events so frequently that we feel sure
The GellL'ral Pn"71ciples of . lstrology
II /eister Cro wley
18
that there is a cause and connection between them, but no
astrologer pretends thal he understands the nature of their
connection. The reader will remember that David Burne, who
has never been refuted, regarded causality itself not merely as
unproved and unprovable but as inconceivable.
There is a school of philosophers called the Casualists who
maintained that every event was a direct volition of the
Deity. When the apple becomes detached from the tree and
falls to the ground the reason is this: first, God wishes the
apple to become detached; second, God happens to wish the
apple to reach the ground. It is not only unphilosophical,
they say, but blasphemous, as limiting the power of the
Creator, to assert that one effect necessarily follows another.
19
facts which do not immediately fit into it. The demon·
stration of Immanuel Kant that the so-called laws of �ature
are in reality only the laws of the mind, is one of the most
valuable contributions that was ever made to thought. It is
not true that two and two make four - it is only true that we
are obliged to think so.
The bearings of this are very important to astrology. What
astrology needs is more human observation. The astrologer is
obliged to reason from data which arc often inaccurate, and
sometimes deliberately falsified. He is asked, in short, to
make bricks without straw. That he has produced so marvel­
lous a pyramid of truth is therefore enormously lO his credit.
The method employed in this book will be strictly scientific.
It is impossible to controvert this position by logic, however
Facts have been collected, selected, co-ordinated, and deduc­
repugnant it may be to our commonsense to accept it. The
tions
importance of indicating the possibility of such a position is
adherence to the canons of truth, the method of science, and
have
rules
been
drawn from them with the most rigid
this: to show that from a standpoint of pure reason, the
the
statement that high tides arc connected with the new moon is
accumulated experience of centuries, as handed down by
of logic.
Every
statement
is
based
upon
the
exactly as absurd as, not marc absurd nor less absurd lh�n,
tradition and in treatise, and the fundamental knowledge
the statement that the conjunction of Saturn and Mars bodes
thus acquired has been sifted again and again by applying lO
ill for empires. If there is any distinction to be made between
it
the logical quality of these two propositions, the logician has
research. It is not pretended that such knowledge is final. It is
the
tests
of
evidence
which
accmcs daily in private
yet to be born who finds it. If we accept one more readily
possible that new facts may be discovered at any moment,
than the other, it is because it rests upon more universal
which will modify the opinions hitherto entertained. As a
observation, but it is perfectly empirical and the fact of our
case in P?int, the discoveries of Uranus and Neptune have
having a beautiful theory to account for it does not in any
gone far to revolutionise astrology. Ivrany problems which
way strengthen the original credit it deserves. The reader may
harned the ancient astrologers have been solved by those
perhaps remember that Charles II asked the Fellows of the
events. There arc still many unsolved problems in astrology.
Royal Society why it was that if you filled a bowl of water to
To give a simple example: Jupiter passing over his own place
could put a live goldfish into that water
in the fourth house might bring inheritance. This might
without spilling it, whereas if the goldfish were dead it would
happen with the utmost regularity, four out of five times in a
the brim, you
immediately overnow. They consulted upon the matter and
quarrelled violently over it in the manner of metascience,
returning ultimately to the 'merrie monarch' with no less
than rune learned and satisfactory explanations. It had never
occurred to one of them to try cxperimentally whether the
king's statement was correct. The making of theories has
been, from time to timc, a great curse to science. The
tendency is to generalise from insufficient evidence, and
having formulated on hypothesis, to deny or neglect any
man's life; the fifth time, no. Why? A dozen suggestions
might be made. None of them might satisfy the intelligence.
It is thinkable, however, that the discovery of yet another
planet might offer a clear and obvious solution. Astrology is
in the position of every other science. A great deal is known,
but there is a great deal more which is not known. It at least
ranks with aJl other sciences in the devotion and skill of its
votaries, in their acuteness
and intelligence, and in their
desire to bring practical benefits to their own knowledge
. I /eisler Cro wley
20
within the reach of eve ry member of the human race.
n,e Masler Key to Astrology
It has often been a source of bcwildenncnt to the student
that wi th slich small variations in hcav�n, they should be so
large on earth. Everybody has just as many signs and planets
as everybody else; yet one man is a nobody - in fact most
The General /lyiPlciples of Astrology
21
\videly divergent, on the surface; hut this is only another
symptom
astrology.
of
the
complexity.
All
this
is
explained
by
A glance at the horoscopes of the greatest men of whom
we have record shows that generally speaking the planets
fonn exact or very close aspects and also - this is the
i�portant point - that all or very nearly all, the planets are
interwoven. Sometimes we sec two or three complexes in a
men arc little more - and another is more than half divine.
nativity; perhaps even four; and these have no close relation
morc Of less when they are far from being exact; and on the
people. It is as if they had several strands in their nature
No study of aspects as such can explain the fact. They work
theory of probabilities it would seem as if at least a third of
with each other. Such horoscopes are those of commonplace
which had not been properly interwoven. As a result there
the human race should be of noble calibre. As a fact, hardly
arc times when one is at work in its own feeble way; then it is
generation. How is this? The problem has always barned
continuity is fatal to the performance of any constructive
one man in ten thousand leaves even a transient mark on his
astrologers and encouraged their critics. In fact, till now no
astrologer has fairly faced it. If we do so now, it is because
we have solved the problem and place the key in the hands of
humanity.
What is the difference between an amoeba and an eleph.
ant? The cells of which an elephant is composed arc one and
all not very dissimilar to the amoeba. The difference is that
one is varied and organised, an hannonious republic; the
other remains single.
What
is
the
difference,
to go higher in the scale of
evolution, between a monkey and a man? The answer is
similar. h is not so much the size and weight of the brains
that
differ; some men with small brains have been the
intellectual superiors of men with large brains. But i f we take
the brain of an ape and that of a man from their envelopes, a
radical difference becomes immediately patelll. The convol·
utions in the ape are few and simple; in the man they are
many and complex.
There
lies
the great secret:
the men who mould the
destinies of humanity are the most evolved and therefore the
most highly complex types. They arc not men who have
small interests here, and small '1unctions there; they have
built up every factor in their being into a single composite
pattern. Often the manifestation of the complex will be
forgotten, and another comes into operation. This lack of
work. If such a person sho uld acquire fame, it is the result of
some action suddenly conceived and executed, or of an
accident.
A few examples of greal horoscopes will make these points
certain :
Shakespeare, to begin with, has all nine planets in a single
complex. Five of them are in aspect with
3 degrees, only
one
is more than 10 degrees from the very funhest.
Dante maybe said to have two complexes, one of five
planets, all \vithin 6 degrees; another of four all 9 degrees ;
and one complex is only 9 degrees from the other.
fo.1iehael Angelo has six planets within 6 degrees, with a
seventh only 4 degrees, and an eighth only 3 degees away.
Petrarch has six planets within 6112 degrees, and the other
three within 10 degrees.
Sir Richard Burton has five planets wi thin 5 degrees, and
the other four within 7 degrees.
Bismarck has seven planets within 1 0 degrees, the other
two \vithin 4 degrees.
Edison has six wi thin 1 1 degrees, the others within 8
degrees.
Shelley has five within 8 degrees, three within 2Y2 degrees,
and the other only 6 degrees from a conjunction with one of
the larger complex.
The Ge'leral Principles of A st rology
Aleister CrowLey
22
Zola has all nine with I I degrees; Copernicus eight within
23
natures. The mere fact that one is in Leo and the other in
the same limit.
Libla would not account for the difference. And here it is
within 1 3 degrees, the other three within 7 degrees.
the complex, but for the key to it. Two men might have
degrees and three within 7 degrees.
one case the Lord of the Ascendant was �Iars and in the
Goethe has two distinct complexes, one of six planets
Napoleon has six within
Balzac has four within
9
1 0 degrees, lhree wilhin 5Y.!
degrees, five within to degrees,
and the two complexes are related wilhin 7 degrees.
Wagner has five within 5 degrees, three within
6
degrees
and the last only 5 degrees away.
Baudelaire has five within 1 0 degrees and the other four
within 1 0 degrees also; the one complex is but 7 degrees from
the other.
Pasteur has six planets wi lhin
6Y2
degrees, two within 3
degrees and the Moon which stands aloof is by far the least
important of the host of heaven.
Swinburne has six planets within 5 degrees, the rest within
11,4 degrees.
that we must emphasise the necessity of looking not only for
identical aspects, and yet be utterly different just because in
other Venus. It is not always easy to divine the secret pivot
on which a complex swings. The Lord of the Ascendant is
usually the cardinal point but if there be several planets or
even one very strong planet rising, he may be overwhelmed
by them or it and his place in heaven, as it were, usurped.
And it is of the utmost importance that his fundamental
planet
be
detected
with
accuracy; for it makes
all the
difference in the world whether we regard the other planets
as modifying Saturn or modifying Jupiter. If the native be a
Saturnian at heart the trine of Jupiter will favor his selfish
plans; if
a
Jupiterian, the trine of Saturn will restrict and
balance his enthusiasms. The conjunction of Sol and Venus
which made Shelley so glorious an incarnation of Light and
If we had chosen to include minor aspects, such as 45
Beauty would hardly have acted in that way had Scorpio, not
even stronger case could have been made out, but it is
culminating in conjunction with Mars and Neptune, that
of this sort; we prefer to base it only upon obvious and
Venus that made effective the manifestation of that disposi­
degrees and 1 3 5 degrees, or the quincunx and quintile, an
undesirable to introduce too much subtlety into an argument
patent facts.
Sagittarius, been in his Ascendant. It is the Lord, Jupiter.
determine the disposition and the superiority of Sol in Leo to
tion
In the investigation of any nallvny, it is quite useless to
content oneself, as is too frequently done, with the consider­
ation of planets in pairs. These will give details of the native,
it is true; but it is the complex which decides on what scale
these details arc to be interpreted. ZoIa had Saturn trine to
Mercury, which made him great in construction. But had not
in the heart through
art; had
those planets been
influenced by Pisces, for example, it would have shown itself
in some soft shadowy way.
Enough has been said for a preliminary account of this
matter. In the course of these papers we shall pile Pelion upon
Ossa, and Ossa upon Olympus,S
in demonstration of this
secret of the Astrological Complex.
this aspect been merely part of a mighty complex, it would
have made him a good merchant, a lawyer, or something
comparatively common.
Shelley's conjunction of Mars and Jupiter is very differ­
ently effective to that aspect in J. Pierpoint Morgan!4 Why?
Because they
form parts of cOQIP1cxcs of quite opposite
4. John Pierpoint Morgan (1837 .1913), American financier of vast
wealth, and celebrated art collector.
The Technical Elements ofAstrology
Matter as we know it, consists always of three dimensions, no
more, and no less; length, breadth and thickness. Anything
5. 'Pelion, a wooded mountain ncar the coast of Thessaly. OtllS and
according to Greek mythology, heap ed it on Ossa, and Ossa
on Olympus, in their attempt to overthrow the gods· (Oxford
Ephialtcs,
Companion 10 Classical Literature).
•
..
lieisler Crowley
24
The General Principles of Astrology
which has not these qualities is subjective.
The subject of pure mahematics
t
deals with subjective
conception.
It is based upon a series of arbitrary conventions.
Mathematics is a device for simplifying our thoughts with
regard to the numerical relation of objects.
A point has position, hut neither parts nor magnitude.
A line, length \vi.thout breadth.
A circle is a continuous line, such that there is a point
from which all straight lines drawn to it are of equal length.
The solar system is not a circle, because for one thing, it is
real, objective, thrcc·dimcnsional, while a circle is imaginary,
subjective and two-dimensional, but it somewhat resembles a
circle in its general mathematical properties, althotlgh the
path of Neptune which bounds it is by no means circular, but
we speak of it loosely as a circle for convenience.
The Zodiac, too, is not by any means a circle, for the stars
which comprise its constellations lie at very varied distances
from the Sun; but we speak of it as a "circle for convenience.
Mathematicians have divided the circle into four quadrants
for convenience.
25
consteUation, alulOugh of course the planet is very near, and
the constellation very far away.
However, the rays of the constellation and those of Ule
planet are parallel and their influences are in consequence
combined. Thus, if we say that Mars is in Aries, we mean that
a person standing upon the earth and looking at the sky
would perceive the planet Mars apparently situated among
those stars which form the constellation known as Aries; and
as the influence of Aries is sympathetic with
that of the
better side of the nature of Mars, we should call Mars strong.
The Twelve Houses of Heaven
If an observer, standing upon the earth, perceived the Slin
rising at the moment of the Vernal Equinox, he will call the
position of the Sun the cusp of the Ascendant, dividing the
apparent path of the Sun into twelve houses, each o[ thirty
degrees. The first house will consist of the thirty degrees
immediately below the Sun; the second house of the next
thirty degrees, etc., the thirty degrees immediately above the
Sun constituting the twelfth house.
l\.'lathematicians have divided the circle into three hundred
At the moment of the Vernal Equinox, the Sun is entering
and sixty degrees, arbitrarily for convenience, although there
Aries, and therefore at his rising, we say that Aries occupies
is some connection between ulis division and the length of
the first house. By the time that he has reached his setting, he
the year which was at the time of the division not acc�rately
is still in Aries, but the opposite sign Libra is now in the east,
known.
and so we say that Libra occupies the Ascendant. As the
There are also, the following arbitrary and· conventional
twelve signs of thirty
Aquarius rises in about one hour and eight minutes; that is it
these signs corresponding roughly with the
takes an hour and eight minutes for the first degree of
First, there is the division into
degrees each,
divisions of the Zodiac arc not quite equal, the signs do not
exactly correspond with the houses. For example, at London,
divisions.
principal constellations.
Each sif,tfl is divided into three parts called decanates, each
containing ten debTfees.
Each sign is divided into six parts called quinaries, each
containing five degrees.
The degrees themselves are divided into sixty equal parts
called minutes, and each minute is divided into sixty parts
-calle d seconds.
When a planet is observed to be in that part of the heavens
where is any particular constellation, i t is said to be in that
Aquarius to be replaced on the Ascendant by the first degree
of Pisces; while in the case of replacing Leo by Virgo, the
time required is two hours and forty·eight minutes.
The astrological
import
of the twelve houses will be
described in detail in dealing with the action of the planets in
passing through them.
The Aspects of the Planets
If an observer standing upon the earth fixes the position of
A/eister Crowley
26
The General Principles of Astrology
any two planets in the sky, he will find th�t he must shift l�C
position of his telescope through a certam angle. At ccrt311l
angles, as has been previously explained, UIC influence of the
two planets react upon each other, and those angles arc called
the aspects. These aspects are as follows:
In the old-fashioned traditional astrology, there was a
convention to consider the trine, sextile, and semi-sextile
aspects as good; the quartile and opposition as bad and the
conjunction as doubtful. Modern research, however, has led
us to modify this very crude conception. In this book will be
found numerous examples of exceptions to this rule, which is
1. Conjunction.
Planets are said to be in conjunction when the angle
between them is zero. That is to say that the telescope
does not have to be shifted at all in the plane of the
Zodiac.
merely a rough generalisation.
The
parallel
aspect is of great, but little understood,
importance. Its principal function appears to be to canfinn
and strengthen other aspects. It is most effective when the
parallel is near zero; that is to say when the forces of the two
planets in parallel lie as nearly as possible in the great plane
2. Parallel.
Planets a.re said to be parallel when the angle between
which contains the total force of the solar system.
them is zero. That is, the telescope docs not have to be
How to Set up a Figure of the Heavens
shifted at all in the plane at right angles to that of the
Zodiac.
In the present state of the science of astrology, it IS not
necessary, or even desirable, to strive after great mathemat­
3. Semi-scxtilc,
ical accuracy, such as is needed by astronomers. Reasons for
The semi-sextile aspect is 3 0 degrees.
this are numerous.
4. Semi-square.
The angle is of 45 degrees.
I.
It i s very rare that the time o f a natIVity i s known
with accuracy. Nor is it certain even exactly what
5. Sex tile.
moment should be taken, even suppose that the birth
The angle is of 60 degrees.
took place at the
6. Square or quartilc.
astronomers
The angle is of 90 degrees.
in
the
Lick Observatory. with all the
world
in consultation at the
bedside of the mother.
2.
7. Trine.
It is not quite certain what exact moment to take as
the lime of the formation of an aspect. Sometimes
The angle is of 120 degrees.
the effects appear to advance slightly and sometimes
8. Sesqui-quadrate.
Thc angle is of 1 3 5 degrees.
to delay.
3.
9. Opposition.
Even were all these points satisfactorily settled, the
judgement of the expert astrologer depends on the
The angle is of 1 8 0 degrees.
These are also certain lesser aspects:
27
human factor, on the personal equation. The most
7 2 dCbrrees,
degrees, and
144
150 degrees. These are of very little if any
.
importance and can, generally speakmg, be neglected . The
.
semi-sextile and semi-square aspects are also weak, especially
the semi-square. The same is true of the sesqui-quadrate.
successful astrologers are not those who pay the most
attention to the mathematics of the subject, but
those whose natural gift in this direction is trained
and developed by experience.
It is a very easy matter to set up a figure of the heavens
nIl! Ge7leral Principles ofAstrology
AleislcT Crowley
28
29
suitable for an astrological judgment. Any person with even
Having filled up all the twelve houses in the manner indi­
hour. The instructions now to be given will enable him to do
Ephemeris.
You then proceed to insert in this figure the planets in
moderate training in mathematics can learn lO do it in an
this in comfaT{.
The first thing to be done is to provide yourself with an
cated, you can now turn back to the other part of Ule
Ephemeris, which may be obtained through "any bookseller.
their proper places. For example, suppose 24 Virgo is on the
cusp of the eleventh house and you find the Sun marked as in
issued by 'Raphael' and we shall suppose the student to
Virgo slightly behind it. The daily motion of the Sun is
found. the date and the day of the week. Pick out the day
therefore, quite unnecessary to make any calculations de­
In the next column is given the Sidereal Time. We need not
to take the noon position, accurate to the nearest degree.
The present generation of astrologers, as a rule, employ that
possess it. At the left hand of the left hand page will be
which you require.
22 Virgo, you put him slightly in front of the cusp; if in 26
within
always
about
3 minutes of a degree
and it is,
pending upon the hour of the horoscope. It is quite sufficient
here enter into what that means. We merely give the rule. If
Thus, suppose he were marked 16-5-52 Libra, he can be put
afternoon, add that hour and minute to the Sidereal Time for
little common sense is all that is necessary. We then consider
the hour and minute for which you sct up the figure is for
the day. If it be before noon, find out how much before
noon, by subtracting the hour and minutes from twelve hours
in the figure as 16, even if the actual time is near midnight. A
the position of the Moon; the Moon's daily motion is very
large; it is sometimes as much as 1 5 degrees or even a little
(thUS eight o'clock in the morning is four hours before noon)
more. It is sometimes as low as 12 or even a little less, but
case, the time obtained is more than twenty·four hours,
the Ephemeris, the positions for both noon and midnight are
time before noon is greater than the Sidereal Time, add
whether the hour of the horoscope is nearer the one or the
and subtract the result from the Sidereal Time. If, in the first
subtract twenty·four hours from it. In the second case, if the
twenty-four hours to the Sidereal Time. You then turn to the
end of the book and look at the Tables of Houses for the
this works out approximately as a degree every two hours. In
given.
You
should take noon or midnight according to
other. By allowing half a degree an hour you will get the
Moon's position correct with quite an inappreciable and
place for which you wish to set up the figure.
negligible error. Thus suppose the time you want is 9 o'clock
yourself, a circle divided into twelve parts. At the top of the
degrees, 3 7 minutes of Taurus, all you have to do is to
Now take the blank form with which you have provided
Tables of the Houses you will see the Sidereal Time marked
in the evening and the Moon at midnight on that day is in 8
subtract a degree and a half, which will give you 7 degrees of
on the left-hand side. Run your eye down the column until
Taurus. You then go on to the right hand page of the
which you have made by adding or subtracting the hours as
planets.
which is marked ten, put the sign and degree which is given in
twenty·four hours; Herschel rarely more than two minutes;
you find the nearest approximation to the new Sidereal Time
stated above. Now, against the house in your blank figure
the column next to the Sidereal Time in the Table of Houses,
Ephemeris,
which gives you
Ule positions of the other
Neptune never moves more than a minute or two in the
Saturn rarely more than seven; Jupiter rarely more than
and fill in the others as far as the third house accordingly.
twelve; Mars rarely more than fifty; and it is therefore quite
it is not necessary that they should'be given, for the fourth
Venus, however, occasionally moves over a degree, and you
From the fourth house to the ninth no figures are given, and
house is equal and opposite to the tenth, the fifth to the
eleventh and so on. Thus if 16 Cancer be on the cusp of the
tenth, 16 Capricornus will be on the cusp of the fourth.
unnecessary to mark down more than the nearest degree.
should consider the hour of the horoscope in deciding where
to place her. Thus, suppose she is in 19-39 Aries, you would
mark her as 19, if the time were long before noon, 20 if it
If [euler Crowley
30
The Ge1lenll Principles of Astrology
were afternoon. Mercury moves still faster, sometimes cover­
ing over
in
the
If the time for which he is erecting the figure be ncar sunrise,
proportionately a little more careful in deciding his position.
he will find the Sun near the CllSp of the Ascendant; if near
The Nodes of the Moon arc given in the Ephemeris in the
noon about the cusp of the tenth house; ncar sunset, the
seventh; near midnight, the fourth and for intcrmediate
24
hours.
and
There i s a very useful and simple check on his calculation.
you will be
2
degrees
31
upper right-hand corner of the page; they' move vcry slowly,
and no trouble need be taken to correct their position for the
times, i n intermediate positions. Until he has set up a few
hour of
dozen figures, he had belter always use this to check his
the
day.
(Note:
It
will
be
observed
that the
Ephemeris purports to give the aspects, especially those of
calculations.
the Moon on the right-hand part of the page. The young
We have tfied to make thcse instructions as simple and
astrologer will be ,vise to neglect these and wurk them out
practical as possible, omitting any refinements or complex­
for himself, as only the exact aspects are given, and there
may be many astrologically applicable which are not noted
on the particular day for which he is setting up the figure.)
It will be noted that sometimes planets are marked as
ities, but if they are not round perrectly easy to follow, the
student after repeated trials, but not before, sholold get a
practising astrologer to show him once or twice how the
thing is done.
retrograde. This never applies to the Sun Of 1-,'loon, and it is
only important in the case of Mercury and Venus from the
point of view of setting up the figure. If in casting your cye
down the columns, you see the number diminish rather than
increase, you know that the planet is retrograde, and in such
a case, the later the time of your horoscope, the further back
The General Prilzciples ofJudging a Figure
"laving set up a figure of the heavens, the first thing to
observe is the rising sign, and the student should turn to that
part or the book in which its effects are described� Hc should
instead of fon't'ard, will be the position of the planet.
then notice whether the sign is in any way complicated by
A little confusion is caused by the fact that the movement
the presence of planets in it, and again he should turn to a
of the Zodiac is in an opposite direction apparently to that of
corresponding portion of the book, if this is so. He should
the planets. This is, of course, not really the casco Even the
then look at the ruler of that sign, notice its position in the
so·called retrograde movements arc due to the fact that the
zodiac and also in what house it is situated, and he should see
carth in moving so much faster than the other planets makes
whether this ruler is in any way complicated by aspects. In
thcm appear as i f they were going backwards. It is a similar
every case he will find a part of the book in which these
illusion to that by which the lower half of a cartwheel
conditions are described. He must then repeat this operation
appears to be moving backward ; or as a local train appears to
with every sign in tum.
an express when the latter passes it. However, the point to be
Ilaving gone through all this preliminary work, he will be
observed is this; owing to the rapid revolution of the earth,
well on the way to form a judgment. He will be wise to
the observer at any given spot sees a new sign of the Zodiac
regard all these as so many details, like a box of bricks rrom
fisc cvery hour or two, whcreas...the Sun remains in the sign of
which he can build a house. Some ractors will strike him as
thc Zodiac for a whole month. If, therefore, you set up a
extremely important; others as less so. The morc he considers
figure of the heavens for sunrise, and another for noon, it will
the figure, the more salient points will leap into the focus of
appear as if the planets had all gone backwards, whereas of
his imagination, and by sctting his intuition at work and
course, in reality, they are moving forward. It is hoped that
employing his creative faculties to eke out his judicial, he will
this simple explanation will clear up any difficulty which
obtain a mental picture of the horoscope as a whole, which,
there may be experienced by the young astrologer in sctting
up his figure.
though reposing securely upon the foundation of the facts of
the planetary positions, is something more than the sum of
A lcisler Crowley
32
those
facts. To draw an
analogy
'I1le Ge7leral Principles of Astrology
from painting itself, a
masterpiece by Velasquez is, if you analyse it, a set of
33
longfellow are not more, but less musical th,m the unregu­
lated outburst of Whitman.
patches of color, arranged in a peculiar manner, but to say
The astrologer claims to be a creative artist as much as the
this is not in any way to describe the picture. An astrologer
poet, painter, or musician; and he will ncver attain to real
who says that because certain positions and aspects exist,
greatness in his profession if he allows himself to be bound
such and such a result mllst follow, is not a good astrologer,
down too tightly by tradition, or even by the calculations of
but a bad astrologer.
his own experience.
The morc he concentrates upon the bare material of his
calculations, the worse his judgment is likely to be. Indefati­
gability is a good servant hut a bad master.
The expert astrologer takes infinite pains with his figure ;
he
endeavors
genius,6
to
fulfill
Carlyle's absurd
definition
We are all human, but we are only worthy of the namc of
human, insofar as we are divine. Inspiration, and nothing else,
distinguishes humanity from the beasts that perish.
of a
The General Sigmficatioll of the Planets, Signs and
Houses
but having assimilated the whole horoscope, he
forgets it or only refers to it casually to confirm the general
impression which it makes upon his mind. The real judgment
is obtained by rising to the height of the situation, having
absorbed everything that the figure has to teach. The astrol­
oger places it in the alcmbic of his imagination. The full
current of his genius overleaps the dam of his data and
sweeps it away. What he attains is not merely reasonable - it
is reason informed and illuminated by his lofty intelligence.
It is for this reason that the plodding, painstaking astrol­
oger is as useless as the same kind of college professor. There
is no branch of human activity in which rules are of any real
importance. It is thc privilege of every great creative artist to
break the rulcs. If Wagner had followed out the academic
laws of harmony, music would still be in the morrass where
the dancing-master musicians of Mendelssohn's era would
have left it. If Whistler had attended to the platitudes of
Ruskin,7 Queen Victori<t,. would still be on the throne of
England. One cannot judge poetry by counting the syllables
on one's fingers, and the wooden melodies of Dryden and
6. ·An infinite capacity for taking pains.'
7. James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903),.American pan
i ter of
outstanding ability and wit, author of The Gentle Art of Making
Enemies, 1890. In 1859, he settled in London. Twenty years later he
sued the great critic John Ruskin (1819-1900) for libel. Ruskin had
called his 'Nocturne in Black and Gold' a pot of paint flung into the
face of the public. Whistler won the case but was awarded only a
farthing damages. The costs of the case bankrupted him.
The planets
In the sections of this book in which each planet is described,
will be found an essay upon its nalUre, but in order that the
reader may gain some preliminary acquaintance with the
subject, we shall here give a summary.
Those who arc familiar with Greek and Roman mythology,
,viII be able to gain a very considerable knowledge of this
subject by merely contemplating the attributes of the Gods
whose names are given to the respective planets, and there is,
on the whole, no better method of studying the subject, for
it is not by accident that those names were given, but after a
careful consideration of the astrological influences.
In early times the sea was not navigable in the sense which
we now use the word. The voyage of Odysseus from one end
of the Mediterranean to the other was considered worthy of
celebration in the greatest poem which antiquity has trans­
mitted to us. To the Ancients the sea was an unknown and
terrible monster. It was filled with every kind of fabulous and
appalling being, and there was something peculiarly frightful
about it. It was the personification of the unknown, and the
great
river
Oceanus
which
girdled
the whole earth was
bounded only by the gloomy shores of Hades. On the other
hand, the dwellers upon the coast of Greece and Italy, many
of them living in islands, were perfectly familiar with the sea
in its playful moods, and a number of gracious legends arc
34
The General PrinClI
J les ofAstrology
.-Heister Crowley
equally associated with the name of Neptune. Then again,
they were well aware how a sudden stann will transform the
s
'measureless laughter of the loud resounding sea' into the
shriek of an insatiable fury, pitiless and murderous. These
qualities are resumed and embodied in the astrological COIl­
ception of the planet Neptune.
Uranus or Heaven was the Father of the Gods. To the
35
conditions of existence were regarded as evil, as the result of
malevol �nce. 'Other-worldliness' had destroyed the simple
acceptatIOn of the facts of life which characterised paganism.
The later conception of Saturn is, therefore, principally that
of heaviness, weariness and age, of ill-will to men, and of
peace upon earth, only [he peace of the grave. Meditation
upon these remarks should give a fairly good general idea of
Ancients, the Gods represented a terrible and incalculable
what the astrologer means by the influence of the planet
force. The Gods were incommcnsurables. It was impossible to
Saturn.
foretell what they would do at any given moment. They
could raise up or throw down careless of tears or prayers. The
whole of pagan literature is saturated with this conception.
It
has
been
said
above that Saturn devours his own
children, but on the occasion when the child Jupiter was
born, its mother deceived Saturn by giving him a black stone
They were too exalted for men t :) understand - they were
instead of the infant, and thus the life of the child was saved_
passionless and immutable, and yet they could descend upon
He grew up, dethroned his father and made himself king of
the earth and mix in the affairs of men. The 'blameless
the Gods. The ancient conception of Saturn having already
Ethiop' entertained Jupiter and called him friend, exactly as
deteriorated into that of the oldster, the man past his prime,
did Abraham in the Biblical story. But it was imprudent to
whose powers arc failing, yet who ruled his household with
look upon their faces - at any moment they might be setting
severe discipline, often amounting to tyranny, Jupiter took
traps for the unwary. They might seduce him through pride,
his place in the respect and affection of mankind, as the type
or fill him with ungovernable desires which would lead to his
destruction. It is true that all benefits of humanity came
of mankind at its prime, the prosperous, portly, kindly,
fatherly man_ His power was indeed terrible, but he exercised
from the Gods. It was the Gods who instructed mankind in
it, on the whole, with wisdom and beneficence. The Hebrew
every art and science, but they would also act in the most
conception of Jehovah is not very different from the Roman
unexpected and diabolical ways. If these ideas be rightly
conception
apprehended, the. reader will know a great deal about the
qualities
naturc of the planet Herschel or Uranus.
former. Jupiter occasionally punished some particularly out­
of
of Jupiter, but the latter God has not those
vengeance
which
scripture attributes to the
The eldest born son of Uranus was Saturn. Saturn is, in the
rageous case of blasphemy or some attempts to usurp his
first place, the patron of agriculture, and also the God of
power, but he was pre-eminently the father of his people. His
generation. The age of Saturn was the 'golden age'. At that
authority and dignity were enormous. One could not easily
time virtue thrived - men were industrious, simple, austere
approach him, bu t on the other hand, he was rarely angry
and yet happy, but Saturn atso represented time, and it was
and even when not invoked, was looking down from heaven
said of him that he devoured his own children. For this
reason, he was associated with the phenomenon commonly
known as death. In the collapse of ancient civilisation, when
life was no longer undcrstood in its right relation to exist­
to see whether he could not do anything for the good of his
children. This slight sketch will give a fairly accurate general
idea of the influence which astrologers attribute to ule planet
Jupiter.
ence, when the worship of Attis, Adonis, Osiris and other
Mars was the God of war among the Romans, and it is
mutilated or murdered Gods became general, Saturn became
surely unnecessary to discuss the nature of war in this year of
confused with the Jewish Shaitan. Time, life, and all the
our Lord, 1 9 15. to.brs is the soldier, brave, energetic, stern,
violent, fierce, brutal, resourceful, though not perhaps par­
8. A quotation from the Agamemnon of Aeschylus.
ticularly intelligent. He is quick to anger - with him it is a
The Gel/all! Principles of Astrology
A/cisler Crowley
36
word and a blow. lie seeks 'the bubble reputation e\en in the
,
cannon's mouth .9 It is these qualities which are summarised
in the astrologer'S idea of the influence o f the planet fo.lars.
We must now leave, to some extent, the classic mythology,
for the Sun in the mind of the astrologer has a wider, deeper,
truer conception than that whieh the Romans gave to Apollo.
It was one of the secret doctrines of paganism that (he Sun
was (he source, not only of light, but of life, and i f we arc to
understand the force which the astrologer attributes to the
Sun, we must endeavor to follow out this arcane mystery.
The Sun is by far the most important of the planets, for he
represents the life of the man himself. He is the axle of the
wheel; the other qualities are secondary. It is true that, like
Apollo, he gives swift life and swi fter death, and also that
such essential ornaments of life as art and love are intimately
connected with him, but in the Roman system, Apollo was
not the greatest of the Gods. One could not say that without
him nothng could subsist, and this is, of course, true of the
Sun. The religions of Syria and Egypt, which were principally
solar, permeated classical beliefs and gradually affected the
conception o f Apollo. There is
a
certain later identification
of him \vith the suffering God of Christianity, Free·masonry
and similar cults.
It must not be understood that we wish to diminish the
importance of the other planets. The point which we wish to
emphasise is this, that if the Sun be afflicted, no amount of
benefit frOltl the other planets wil! make up for that depri­
vation. The whole subject o f the Sun, is however, so vast and
so important, that it is r<:.f!lly impossible to summarise in a
few words, what the astrologer implies by the force of the
father o f our system.
The astrologicaJ conception of Venus leads us back to
classical ground once more. Venus was born o f the ocean in
its smiling mood. She was born in an oyster shell, which
connects her with the symbolism of the worship of the
reproductive powers of nature. She is, therefore, connected
with NcplLlne in his most smiling mood and with her father
Jupiter. Venus is an idealised conception o f woman, without
9. As You Lilrt! II, Act II, Scene 8.
37
any base admixture. She is love, grace, beauty, tenderness
�d clllhusiasm. She inspires art, and wherever she goes it is
.
with danclIlg and music. �loreover. and this is very important
from our present point of vicw, she yields, moreover, she
tempts strength. The consideration of these points will enable
the student to gain a clear conception o f the astrological idea
of the innucnce exercised by the planet Venus.
The God Mercury has several forms. In the first instance.
he is a playful, mischievous, prankish boy. He is the enfant
tem'ble of the Gods. h was the custom of patriarchal peoples
to use the boys of the tribe to take messages, as the men
could not be spared from the more important works of the
household. It is, therefore, natural that Mercury should be
the
messcnger
of the Gods.
In
later developments and
amplifications of these ideas, we see Mercury bringing forth
the fruit of which they are the seed. He is the master of
science and knowledge and the inventor of music, though not
so much the executant as Apollo. But the childish knavery
persists, in that subtlety, acuteness and wisdom, so that
Mercury became also the patron of all kinds of thieves and
rogues. Furthennore, especially in his Egyptian fonn, Tahuti
or Thoth, he invented the art of writing and became a patron
of leHers which again connects him ,vith the idea o f a
messenger. The astrologer, therefore, considers the planet
Mercury as pre-eminently influencing the intellect, with all its
splendour, trickeries and basenesscs.
One of the favorite epithets of the Moon·Goddess among
the Romans was Trivia, she of the three ways, because she
had three forms. She is woman, both as mother and as child;
this dual capacity completing that conception of womanhood
of which Venus is described above as only one part. There is,
however, a certain sinister aspect of the life of a woman to
understand which we must go back once more to a consider·
ation of the life of priinitive people.
In the early com­
munities, a woman who was past child·bearing was past her
usefulness; whatever might have been her service to the
community, they were forgotten. She sank into contempt
and hatred, which she naturally reciprocated by using the
sublimation of the arts which she had learned in dealing with
men in order to annoy them. Even today in India, as well as
38
in
A/euler Crowley
some
other
communities
which
The GCIIl'mf Pri'lcfplt·S 0f,·ls/rolo!:)'
it
is unnecessary to
particularisc, the old women arc looked upon with fear and
detestation. I 0 It is supposed that she spends the whole o f her
39
a peculiarly sudden and violent manner the effects of the
SUIl, and Jupiter, and it is therefore favorablc for beginning
time in making mischief. Among superstitious peoples, she
any great operations. It is particularly helpful to the study of
thc loftiest, purest kind of occult science and it lends great
would, therefore, obviously acquire the Tq�utation of being a
force to the student o f such matters.
witch. The waning moon was, therefore, t�kcn as the symbol
The tail of the dragon, which is always exactly opposite to
of every kind of devilry. She is Hecate, the Queen of the
it in the heavens, has a precisely opposite innuenee. It is very
Strygcs.
good for ending a matter, but implies sudden losses just as
the head o f the dragon indicates sudden gains. It is invaluable
A good modern picture o f this idea is given in
.Hacbelh.
The third aspect of the Moon is that suggested by the facts
of nature, her swift motion through the heavens and her
changeful appearance endow her with the qualities of fickle­
ness and instability. This is connected
"
•
.-j th
the waywardness
and inauention which we notice in young children. There
are, therefore, these main points to be considered. First, she
represents the life of woman herself in exactly the same way
as the Sun represents the life of Man. Secondly, she rep­
resents woman in her aspect as mother as opposed to that of
wife, and she also represents the child in the earliest ages,
before the mind, which is Mercury, is fully developed and the
little creature is not much more than a bundle of appetite,
moods and emotions. Thirdly, she represents in woman vel)'
much what Saturn does in man, but this only when she is
waning and
afnicted. Consideration o f these points will
enable the student to understand fairly well what the astrol­
oger means by the influence of our satellite.
There are two other points to mark in a horoscope to
which
....'C
have not previously referred. Some astrologers
g that the
nowadays neglect them, sayin
influence attributed
to them by the older searchers of the stars has now been
explained by the discovel)' of Uranus and Neptune, but we
have seen horoscopes in which tlIeir influence is extremely
marked and we think that it will not complicate the subject
unduly if we briefly indicate their functions and nature.
They arc the Nodes of the Moon, which arc the points at
which she crosses the ecliptic. They are called in astrology
Caput-Draconis and Cauda-Draconis, the head and tail of the
dragon. The influence of the head of the dragon combines in
10. This s
i no doubt
an
exaggeration.
to the student o f the more physical and practical types of
occultism.
Neither the head nor tail of the dragon forms aspects with
the planets. Their only importance in their position in the
horoscope.
Th e signs
The Universe is one, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent.
Its substance is homogenous but this substance cannot be
said to possess the qualities o f Being, Consciousness and Bliss,
for these arc rather the shadows of it, are apprehended by the
highly illuminated mind whcn it comes ncar thereto. Time
and space themselves are but illusions. This substance r of the
Universe 1
has received many names. The Hindoos call it
Parabrahm,
Atman
and so on. The Gnostics call it the
Plcroma. The Qabalists call it the White Ilcad, the Smooth
Point, the Ancient One, the Concealed of the Concealcd. In
later times, it was called God, or the Absolute, or Spirit, and
even Matter. All, however, agree about its attributes and
these are mostly of a negative character. Because of its
essential one-ness, the Greeks callcd it the One, and we here
so consider it, for One is the first positive manifestation in
computation. Since, therefore, this substance is one, homo·
genous and self-conscious, it cannot be manifest in any way
while it is in that state. It is sufficient to know that it did
divide itself into two equal and opposite courses, which have
been variously described by different schools of philosophy
as male and female, or active and passive, or fire and water,
or being and form, or matter and motion, or the Yin and the
40
TIle General PriliCl/)les ofAstrology
IIleister Crowley
2
41
and in fact any other pair of deities of the first order. This
system. This division forms an extremely satisfactory base for
any scheme of classification, and it has been necessary to
limits of the human mind, for that mind is itself dualistic, our
comprehension of first principles, it is impossible to obtain
It is possible to dissolve this duality back again into the
of the Zodiac, but why they mean them. For the twelve signs
are divided into four triplicities in this order, fire, earth, air,
Yang, I I or again personification slich as Shiva and Shakti,l
dual principle, exalted as it is, comes a little nearer to the
enter thus brieny into pure philosophy because without some
conscioll sness being composed of subjective and objective,
the ego and the non-ego.
any idea, not so much of what astrologers mean by the signs
unity by a mystic process, but the natural course taken by its
water, beginning with Aries; and each triplicity classes its
own combination is to form a third entity, partaking of the
qualities of both, yet possessing an independent existence.
Thus is formed the descending triangle of father, mother,
members under the regimen of the three actives. Thus, Aries
represents the fiery part of fire, the most active and violent
manifestation of that element; Sagittarius is the watery part
son, the Yod, He, Vall of the Qabalistic Trigrammaton and
of fire, tl)e passive and tractable form; while Leo represents
many others whose names will readily occur to the reader. In
nature, Aries might be compared to the lightning, Sagittarius
the pre·Christian trinity of such Gods as Isis, Horus, Osiris, or
the airy part, the balanced, perfected and stable part of it. In
the ancient Greek philosophy, of Parmcnides, Empcdocles,
to the rainbow, and Leo to Ule Sun. Similarly with th"e
Ulese three principles are
misunderstood; water is in its nature passive and receptive,
connected with thc three possible states in which one can
of solution. Pisces is the reflective, passive, quiet form of the
Heraclcitus, the Eleatic Zeno and even in the philosophy of
Pythagoras and the Stagirite, 1 3
element water. Cancer is its active form. This must not be
recognised under the names of fire, air and water. They are
yet in this are certain active qualities, for example the power
and Becoming.
elements; and Scorpio harmonises and fixes these two. Thus,
clearer these points become. It must, however, be understood
rivers; Pisces by wells and pools, and Scorpio by the sea. With
pertain to the divine hierarchy. In a word, to the Yetziratic
penetrating garment of the globe. Gemini represents it in
conceive the Universe - Being, Not-Being,
The
more carefully Plato and Aristotle are studied, the
that these principles are all active and causative - they still
World 1 4 of Rabbi Ben Simeon. I
5
However, from this trinity
Cancer would be symbolised by clouds, rain, streams and
air, again, Libra is air in its most activc form, thc inteT'
absorption and modification as the breath and mind of man.
of actives [i.e. fire, air, waterl is consolidated a passive which,
to continue the termination of the physicist school of
Aquarius harmonises these two ideas. In Aquarius the air is
admirably resumed, although 'amplified in the Sephiroticl 6
themselves.
philosophy, is called carth. The whole of this doctrine is
I I . The feminine (Yin) and mas<:uline (Yang) clements or th<:
negative and positive forces in Chinese philosophy.
12. Shiva (the Hindu deity typical of Pure Consciousness) and Shakti
(Shiva's Consort) are the negative and positive aspe<:ts of the one
substance Crowley is dis<:ussing.
1 3 . i.e. Aristotle.
1. 4. The World of Formation as opposed to the Material World,
AS51ah, ill the Qabalisti<: system. It is equivalent to the Astral Plane as
distinct from the mundane sphere.
15. Rabbi Schimeon Ben Yochai. from whose writings the mystical
Jewish treatise entitled The Zohur was <:ompiled.
I fi. The Qabalah is composed of ten emanations known as the
Sephiroth.
stable and fixed to such an extent that it partakes of the
nature of water; it is the bearer of water, like the clouds
Turning to earth, we perceive the same subdivision. Capri.
comus
is
the
earth,
considered
as
a
formative
force;
mountains in particular are analogous to it, because they are
salient and rugged, offering obstacles. Virgo is the earth in its
passive form - fields and pastures, which as it were yield
themselves naturally to other influences. Taurus combines
these ideas - the stable and fixed course of earth, which we
can only interpret as the essence of labour.
It is hoped that these few simple preliminary remarks will
aid the student in the beginning of his investigation into the
meaning of the signs of the Zodiac from the standpoint of
natural philosoph)!.
42
The General PrinCIples of Astrology
"Ileisler Crowley
43
We must now consider an entirely different clement, but a
We have, fortunately, a vel)' remarkable document, the
most important one, which enters essentially into the funda­
book of the Atu of Tahuti, more commonly known as the
Tarot. I 8 Scholars are at issue with regard to the origin and
mentals of the astrological conception of the Zodiac. It is
first necessary to call the attention of the student to the fact
antiquity of these extraordinary designs and it is no part of
that all ancient religions were symbolic celebrations, either of
our present purpose to discuss so vexed a question. Indeed
the forces of nature in the macrocosm, and so primarily of
wc will acquiesce readily in the contention that even in the
the Sun, or of the forces of nature in the microcosm and so
Middle Ages the designs had been debased and corrupted by
primarily of generation.
I7
In other words, all religious ideas
ignorant copyists, and that they stand in urgent need of
are related either to the life of the earth, or to the life of
restoration, but at least a vel)' remarkable degrec of truth has
man. Owing to the numerous accidents which occurred in the
been retained and it is by careful consideration and study of
gradual development of civilisation, and in particular we
these cards that we arc able to draw a clear conception of the
would refer to the growth of the Roman Empire, these ideas
necessary- sequence
became, to some extent, confused. Political consider.:l.tions
and
significance of the
signs
of the
Zodiac. There are, in all, seventy-eight of these cards; sixteen
entered into theology; adaptations and compromises were
of them arc court cards, king, queen, prince and princess in
made by priests who had become ignorant or careless of the
each of thc four clements. There arc also the four aces,
true traditions, and we accordingly find that these two lines
representing the divine root of the force of each of the four
of thought are interlocked to such an extent that not all the
elements; there arc thirty-six cards numbered from 2 to 10
acumen of scholars, even of initiated scholars, can satis­
representing the
factorily dissociate them. To take one striking example, it is
36 dccanates of the Zodiac; twenty·two
cards remain and these refer to the twenty-two letters of the
\'ery strange that the spring festival which we now call Easter
Hebrew alphabet, of which three are attributed to the three
should be connected with suffering and death, as in the case
active elements,
of Attis, Dionysus and some others. The solution is given by
membered that the discovcl)' of Uranus and Neptune is quite
considering what death is - we will not say a euphemism or a
recent) and twelve for the signs of the Zodiac. To this last
blind truth, but a mystic truth, which only initiates of the
series we now turn our particular attention. The following is
highest class are likely in any way to understand. But the
the list:
seven to the planets (for it must be re­
obvious meaning1s given by the fact that the birth of the Sun
and of the year occurs nine months later at the winter
Aries, the Emperor or Pharaoh
solstice
Taurus, the Pope or High Priest
when
Sol
enters
Capricornus.
The
crucifixion
symbolism of the Sun, which is connected with his crossing
Gemini, the Lovers
the equator should really be referred to his entering into
Cancer, the Charioteer
Libra rather than into Aries, and nearly all the confusion
Leo, StrL-ngth
which has arisen is due to this original mistake. The entry of
Virgo, Prudence or the Hermit
the Sun into Aries properly signifies his resurrection, but it is
Libra, Justice
not at all the time to symbolise his suffering, and descent
beneath
the
equator from which he
rises,
Scorpio, Death
symbolically
Sagittarius, Temperance
speaking, after three days and nights, that is to say six
Capricornus, the Devil
months.
Aquarius, the Star
Pisces, the Moon
17. What Crowley is getting at in this passage is the contrast between
the Sun n
i the Macrocosm and the Phallus in the Microcosm, the
Phallus being in his words 'the sale vicegerent of the Sun upon earth',
1 8 . The 22 keys or trump! of the Tarot. Thesc are attributed to the
22 paths of the Tree of Lifc.
-
. I /elster Crowley
The General Principln ofAstrology
45
These titles are not in all cases of any great significance. Thcy
and one dark. These represelll the waxing and waning 1\'loon.
were no doubt given in later times merely on account of
Above the heads 'Of this group is flying a winged god, a child,
some salient feature in the designs. It is therefore necessary
bearing a bow and a quiver full of arrows, one of which he
to give some account of the designs upon the cilfds.
directs against the head of the youth. It is a symbol of
inspiration, of the growth of the mind of the youth. !l.lodern
1. The Emperor shows a crowned king seated with orb and
sceptre upon a cubical stone, on which is marked a red eagle.
designers have mistaken this winged God for Cupid, but he is
really a form of the Sun in which that luminary is considered
His arms arc so placed as to form a triangle with the apex
as a vehicle of a divine force beyond him, the Creator of all.
upwards, and his legs are crossed. This triangle above a cross
This is an identification of Mercury with the Sun. (It is not
of sulphur, \vhich represents the
generally known how intimately the myths of Henne! and of
clement of fire in a very sublimated and sacramental form. It
is
the alchemical
sign
Dionysus arc connected, and there is no space to prove the
is easy to see the analogy between !.his drawing and the sign
identification in this place.) In the life of the year, this card
of Aries, which is ruled by the fiery planet Mars and in which
represents the shooting of buds, the blossoming of nowers,
the Sun is exalted and triumphant. It is the return of the
which occur when the Sun is in Gemini in the month of May.
year, whcn earth is rencwed and all lifc awakens again to its
fullest activity.
4. The card callcd the Chariotcer represents a crowned
king standing in a chariot, drawn by two sphinxcs, one black
__
2. The Pope is figured in his pontifical vestmcnts, crowned
and one white. At thc corners of the chariot are four pillars,
with the triple tiara, which, of coursc, in more ancient times
which support a canopy of azure, covered with stars. The
was but the yellow crown of Osiris, and reprcsents the
meaning of this card and its conncction with the sign Cancer
creative force which linked man with divinity. I-lis hands arc
are quite obvious. The Sun enters Cancer at the summer
upraised in blessing and at his feet kneel four persons in such
position
that
their
five
heads
solstice, that is at the period of his greatest triumph, his
arc at the point of a
extreme northern declination, the height of summer. The
pentagram, the star of the microcosm, the symbol of God
sphinxes are, of course, day and night. The canopy of stars is
a
made man. This card, therefore, represents incarnation. In
the abyss of hcavcn and the four pillars are the seasons. In his
the ancient mythologies, particularly in India among the
hands the King bcars a cup and this is connected with the
worshippers of Shiva, in Syria among the worshippers of
symbolism of the Holy Grail. In conncction with thc life of
Mithras, and in Egypt among the worshippers of Apis, we
Mars it represents the quickening of the child in the womb of
find the Bull is the symbol of thc Redeemcr. We also find Isis
its mother, which takes place three months after conception,
and Hathor, represented by the cow, it being from them that
as symbolised by the Sun in Aries. Cancer being a watery
the Redcemer springs by incarnation. The Sun in Taurus then
sign, this period is the receptacle of the force of the previous
is a fixation on Earth through woman of the fire of the Sun
in his cxaltation. Taurus means bull, is ruled by Venus, and in
it the i\loon is exalted. It is also a passive feminine earthy
quadrant. It is governed by the Moon and here we see its
connection with the symbol of the mothcr, while the exalt·
ation of Jupiter in the sign refers to the divinc innuence
SIgn.
presiding over the incarnation.
3. The card called the Lovers is a very peculiar symbol. It
represents the expansion and dispersion in air of that fiery
mouth of a lion. This in the life of the year symbolises that
force which has been fixed on earth. Its conventional form
the fruits of the earth are now safe from the devouring
represents a youth standing between two women, one fair
elements which endangcr them during the spring. It is the
5. The card called Strength represents a woman closing thc
46
A/eisler Crowley
The Get/eral Prillel/Jies of ,btrology
47
fixation of the fire of Aries, and a similar sense of security
summer. The SUIl i s already prepared for his crucifixion upon
and triumph reigns a.lso with regard to (he lifc of man. It is a
the equator. Virgo is an earthy and mercurial sign and so
represents the fixation of the intellect in practical ways.
period of security, of fine weather. The arduous work of
ploughing is over. The harvest is gathered in; there is no
further fear of starvation during the winter, which is already
foreseen. h should be remembered in.. case this explanation
seems trivial to us modems, who by the advance of science
have made ourselves permanently secure against famine, 1 9
an uplifted sword, in her left a pair of balances and she is
seated on a throne. At the entrance of the Sun into Libra, the
was entirely different. DweUers in modem cities never think
days and nights are again equal, and this card is a fitting
complement to the Emperor who presides over Aries. This is
about the harvest unless they are gambling in cereals; but to a
the moment of the crucifixion of the Sun who now descends
family in ancient Egypt or Chaldea, it was the constant
below the Equator for the remaining six months of the year.
preoccupation and anxiety. This card is a hieroglyph of the
Libra is ruled by Venus, but Saturn is exalted in the sign, and
that in the times when these cards were designed, the case
/
7. The card called Justice represents a grave woman with
austere and solemn countenance. In her right hand she holds
old aphorism that salvation comes to the woman whose
this indicates, with reference to the life of man, the sorrow
courage and fortitude assure the preservation of the race, and
and burden of the woman. It will be noticed that the sceptre
again in the life of the year, it shows the benefit obtained
in the hand of the Emperor, the symbol of creation and
from her housewifery. Remember that among all primitive
destruction is replaced by the sword which destroys. It is this
people the women do all the hard work of the field.
6. When the Sun enters Virgo, the harvest is already secure,
and the fruits of the earth ripen. The symbol upon the card
called the Hermit is therefore very easy to understand. It
represents an aged man, hooded and cloaked, bearing a long
woman who executes the fiat of the Almighty, who has
appointed that every rise shall be equilibriated by a fall.
8. The card called Death is just as simple a representation
as Justice was. The card shows the figure of a skeleton in
whose hands in a scythe, cross·hiltcd, with which he is
staff and a lamp. At his feet before him goes a serpent. This
reaping a field, on which are to be seen the heads and hands
man is Hermes, the messenger of the Gods, he who taught
alike of crm\fIled kings and beggars. When the Sun enters
science and letters to men. It is only in the modem design
Scorpio it is the death of the year. The leaves fall, nature
that this man is old, and this is owing to confusion in
putrifies. Scorpio, the balanced form of water, is under the
etymology. The word Hermit has nothing to do with Hermes;
mle of Mars, and its meaning in alchemy is always corruption
it comes from the Greek Eremitos, one who lives in a desert,
and putrefaction. This process is necessary to rebirth, and
and it is because hemlits, as known to the people of the
that such is the office of death is shown by the fact that the
Middle Ages were usually old men, that this card Hermes was
handle of the scythe is in the shape of a cross, the sacred
replaced by a figure of a hermit. The lamp, staff, cloak, and
emblem of salvation in which the true light exists, but in a
serpent arc clear indications that the original design repre·
concealed form. For the letters of the L.uin word Lux are
sented the messenger of the Gods. He symbolises the de·
formed by the arms of a cross.
veloped mind of man, the prudence and foresight which
to gather up the fruits of his ploughing and
9. The card which rules over Sagittarius is called Temper·
sowing and reaping into granaries, for Virgo is the last sign of
ance, and it represents the final operation in the Great Work.
causes him
The card shows a woman in whose girdle shinc;s the Sun.
19. Crowley was writing in the good old days of 1 9 1 5 when the
threat of over·population was not sufficiently appreciated.
Upon her head is the crown of the twelve stars of the Zodiac.
Beneath her feet is the Moon; in her righ 1 hand, she bears a
48
.'I/cisler Crowley
The General Pri,ICI/Jles of Astrology
cup; the water (rom which falls upon a lion in the midst of a
fire and in her left is a torch whose fire illuminates an cagle
49
pentacle has previously OCCUlTed in the card of that other
earthy sign Taurus, which we call the Pope. We must then
that crouches upon the sea. Between these symbolic animals
regard this Devil a s the Emperor in disguise, beneath a veil,
is a caldron boiling over a fire and the lion and the eagle emit
and the symbolism of the whole will become clear, when we
from their mouths into the caldron two streams. The picture
recall what festival has replaced the Satumalia,l O what was
is so full of signification, that one cannot enter into it in this
the principal event in the world's history which occurred at
place as fully as one might wish, but the main point to be
the
entry of the Sun into Capricornus. This card con·
sequently represents esoterically the complete triumph of the
triumph of the woman over the destmctivc forces of nature:
creative force initiated by the Emperor. It is the birth of the
observed in this is that in the life of man, this represents the
Sun. In the life of the year, too, this is not only the period of
by tempering and equilibrating the opposing forces, she has
the Sun's greatest declination, but it marks the moment of
succeeded in preserving that which was cntnlsted her by the
Emperor, the active and creative force which she develops.
the beginning of his return. It is the supreme optimism, not
of the short-sighted folk whom William James called the
'once·born',l l but that of the thrice·born who regard lif� and
The sign Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter, and this IS agam an
indication of the triumph of the father.
10.
death equally as parts of a sacrament. This card was redrawn
by Eliphas
We now come to an exceedingly sinister card, the
Uvi,2 2 who hannonised it with the ancient
Devil. In this symbol, the makers of these hieroglyphs have
representations of Baphomet. 2 3 In it he shows the complete
necessary
to
perfect wedlock of spirit and matter. The older fonn is,
Apparently,
lhe card represents the figure of a satyr or
been
exceedingly
equilibration and triumph of all forces and in particular the
cautious. It has seemed to them very
hoodwink
the
eyes
of
the
uninitiate.
however, deeper and subtJer. Particular attention should be
paid to the planet Mars who represents the energy of the Sun.
demon. lIe is standing upon an altar, and four other demons
In Aries we saw him at work, in Scorpio in apparent defeat;
are worshipping him. It is simple to deduce from this that he
here he is exalted in tJle house of Saturn himself. It is the
refers to Capricornus, the goat, ruled by Saturn and having
force of life triumphant in the palace of the King of Death.
Mars exalted therein. In this exoteric reading, we see denoted
ea�th at the end of December, an element one might say
1 ] . The card called the Star or Hope is of a very gracious
actively malevolent. The student will remember that the
festival of Saturn was held at the entrance.of the Sun into
and beautiful character. It represents a woman kneeling by
nation. It is the culmination and finality of death, but a
one she fills the stream, the otJler she POllrs over her own
the bank of a stream. In her hands arc vials of water; with
Capricorn. The Sun has reachcd his greatest Southern decli­
deeper philosophy finds
a
head. Above her shines the star of Mercury and at her side is
deeper meaning in this card. It is
a rose·tree about which a butterfly is flitting. As Sagittarius
noticeable that this Devil bears the torch and cup as did his
predecessor.
It
is
also remarkable that he and his four
20. The Saturnalia, the greatest pagan festival, which took place in
December, answcred roughly to our Christmas.
2 1 . See William James, The Varietiu of Religious Experience.
22. See Eliphas Levi, Transcendental Magic. uvi's design of 'the
Sabbatic Goat', which hardly captures a baldul atmosphere. appears at
the beginning of the section entitled 'The Ritual of Transcendental
Magic'.
23. The bestial deity adored by the Kllights Templars. Crowley took
the name of Baphomcl when he assumed control of the magical Order
of the Oriental Templars (O.T.O.).
worshippers arc placed at the points of the pentagram, which,
as we said before, is the symbol of God made man, the
peculiar hieroglyph of Christ, It may also be observed that
the devil is standing upon the cubic stone, and this fact is not
unrelated to that upon which we have animadverted in our
discussion of the Emperor.
The torch and cup are the same symbols as the sceptre and
orb, in a slightly different form, and the pentagram or
-
The Ge'leral PmlClpln of .Istrology
Aleistl'r Crowley
50
51
The houses of heaven
represented the triumph of the woman, so this card repre­
The first house describes the individuality and temperament
sents the recognition of that triumph; the festivill of the
sign Aquarius means water-bearer. The old astrologers gave
of the native; also his physical condition and appearance. It
.
also descnbes all those things which pertain to him as an
inclined to suppose that this position may more properly be
ment.
make Saturn vcry suitable and onc of these is that in regard
possessions of the native, and his capacity for increasing
purification of the virgin occurs in this part of the year. The
individual, irrespective of heredity, circumstance and environ­
Saturn as its ruler, but modern thinkers on this subject have
The second house gives information with regard to the
given to Uranus. However, there are some considerations that
them. This does not include gain by inheritance or legacy,
to the life of the year, February is the month of the greatest
inactivity; it is also the month in which the heaviest rains fall
nor docs it refer to his aptitude for business.
signification
mentality of the native, and in general with every kind of
The third house deals, in the first instance, with the
and soften the earth for the plough. There is a very strange
which
must
further be noticed. There is a
reference to the story of the flood. The earth is the ark in
medium through which he interprets his personality to his
destroying elements during the period of their greatest rage.
those in which his main interests are not involved, and which
fellows. I t also describes shon journeys, by which is meant
which the precious grain is carried and kept safe from the
are undertaken casually. It also describes his brothers and
This ark in connection with the life of man is also symbolical
sisters, ncar relations, and neighbors, in which terms are
of woman, and the flood itself is the amniotic fluid.
included those acquaintances or friends whose connection
with him are intellectual rather than emotional.
12. Now we come to the last, and in some respects the
The fourth houst" describes the birthplace and the home of
most curious of these designs. The card shows the Moon
waning. She shines upon a landscape which shows low hills
the native. It further designates his prospects in regard to
path between them, and on each side of the path is a jackal,
himself. A further signification is that of houses, lands and
crowned by two towers: directly beneath her winds a narrow
inheritance, especiaUy from the father; it describes the father
the sacred animal of Anubis, the watcher of the Gods and the
any property connected with the earth, especially mines.
water, from which emerges a beetle, the symbol of Kephra,
of life, the place of death and the end of the matter in
From it indications are drawn with regard lO the latter years
guardian of the threshold. In the foreground is a pool of
the Sun at midnight. The entire picture is very characteristic
general.
year, and it also represents in regard to the life of man, that
pleasures including gambling, and the desires of his hearl. It
The fifth house describes the affections of the native, his
of the moment before dawn, both of the day, and of the
has an especial signification with regard to his vita sexualis. It
preliminary period of trouble, darkness and illusion which
also describes his children.
characterises woman before she has discovered the purpose of
The sixth house describes the health of the native, and
her existence. This is further indicated by the fact that Pisces
is the right house of Jupiter, so-called, and in it Venus is
other things intimately connected with his body, such as his
food and clothing. It has also a very secret and peculiar
exalted. This sign is however given by modern astrologers to
Neptune, for this reason , that if we interpret this hieroglyph
on the plane of the mind of man, it represents this present
reference to the occult development of his ego. It furtht::r
spiritual illumination.
servants and it indicates his relations with small animals,
describes
his
relations
with
any persons whom he may
employ to serve him in any function, not merely domestic
state of doubt; the dawn in him of the capacity for full
particularly domestic pets. It is further related, in a very
special way, to agriculture, and also to any speculations he
-
52
The
_-Heisler Crowley
may undenake, exclusively for the purpose of gain without
any idea of amusement.
The seventh house describes tl1C partners of the native,
primarily in marriage, but also in business and in other affairs
of life which demand the co-operation of another person. It
also deals with litigation, and describes any person openly
General Pn"nciples ofAstrology
53
which describes that person is i n the Ascendant. For
example, the wife's mother is indicated by the fourth house;
the mother's brothers by the twelfth, and so on" But this is a
very rude, crude, amateur, inaccurate, and unscientific way
of judging, and should not be resorted to if the horoscope of
the person in question is available.
opposed to the native.
The eighth house indicates the probable Jcngtll of life and
the manner of its termination. It indicates any gain which the
native may have through legacies or bequests.
Marl arid the Universe
A proper understanding of the planets, and indeed of the
The ninth house is the house of science and religion. It
Universe itself, is only to be obtained by a knowledge of the
deals also with long voyages, that is to say, voyages to which
doctrine of correspondences between the microcosm and the
great imporlance is attached, and which are closely inter­
macrocosm.
woven into the life of the native. It describes his capacity,
God made the Universe from nothing, and therefore, as the
bu t even more his aspirations in the matter of spiritual
Pantheists say, He is in all. But this is only part of the truth;
advancement and will indicate the nature of his religious
for also He made all, and remains immune from His creation.
teacher.
Into these high mystical truths it is no part of our purpose
The tenth house describes the occupation of the native and
here to enter. Suffice it to say that the Universe is to be
indicates also his career. Upon this house his fame depends,
regarded as a copy of God, a shadow of God, or even an
as also his rank and honour among his fellows. It describes
incarnation or materialisation of God. Man likewise is made
the employer, master, or superior of the native and his
in His image. To recover the substance from the shadow is
relations with the government of his country. Finally it
the task of the Adept; to compare the lesser image with the
denotes the mother.
greater is the task of the astrologer.
The eleventh hOllse is the house of friends. It describes
those persons to whom the native is naturally attracted, and
the character of his relations willl them. It also describes his
ambition, but this must be carefully distinguished from his
aspiration on the one hand, and from his desire, on the other.
The twelfth huuse i" the house of restraint and describes
any influence which may, in any way, restrict his free-will. It
also describes his secret enemies and the characters of any
intrigue in which he may take part or which may be aimed at
him. It refers also to any secret associations with which he
may be connected. It also signifies large animals, such as
horses and the fortune of the native in respect to them.
Finally, it indicates any places in which he may be in which
Even at the outset of this study, certain salient analogies
leap to the eye. In particular, we see in the planets the seven
ages of man.
First, the
Moon,
changeable, passive,
Next, Mercury, the youth at puberty, no longer change­
able, but swiftly flashing, keen to know, self-conscious, often
full of tricks and conceits.
Then, Venus, full of grace, tender, the new consciousness
again become passive to absorb impressions from the world
about it, eager to find a mate, devoted to art or religion.
Now comes the Sun, the adult, still agile, but steadier,
active, brilliant and creative, the young man rejoicing in his
discipline is the first consideration.
strength.
fortunes of any person indicated as pertaining to the life of
the native by shifting round the horoscope so that the house
plunges vigorously into the turmoil of life.
There is ,a rough and ready method of ascertaining the
easily moulded,
gentle, pure, dreamy - the child.
Mars follows. The man becomes less occupied with self,
Jupiter symbolises his development from his strife into
54
The General Principles of Astrology
A'eisler Crowley
55
He is thus remote, lonely, lost in dreams and aspirations of
victory and rule. lie is the head of his business, the father of
a family .
holiness; brooding upon cosmic things, wooing the stars like
upon his shoulder, and S0, the cnd.
brings masquerade,
Lastly comes Saturn, austere, grave, heavy, the hand of age
What then of Uranus and Neptune? These planets rep·
resent parts of mao which aTe beyond time, or at least
beyond the peay cycles which we usually mean by time. It is
not often enough that we consider the disproportion of
human and astronomical time. The distances of the fixed
stars, are so great that we seem to see a different order of
being. In point of fact,
the stary universe is just aboul
10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times as big as ours; and,
curiously enough, ollr universe is just that much bigger than
the
universe
of bacteria.
Here
arc then three scales of
creation, and only three, appreciable by us at present; this
thought should serve to simplify our understanding.
Now, Uranus and Neptune represent those parts of our­
selves which apprehend these vaster mirrors of the All-One.
Fix this in the mind, and almost all their peculiarities will be
explained.
Uranus is an exceedingly occult planet. Dark and dreadful,
he is the Klingsor24 of Parsifal. He moves mysteriously in
strange paths; he wears a mask of terror. He is infinitely slow,
and yet infinitely sudden, like a snake. He represents the true
magical power in man, capable of nameless evil, yet vital and
necessary 10 his being; moreover capable of redemption and,
when redeemed, the greatest power possible for good .
Of course, in beings of small development, these great
powers do not exist. Uranus is for them merely the cause of
eccentricity, or folly; if well-placed and aspected, the cause
of scientific ardour, philanthropy, and the like.
Neptune is altogether the complement of Uranus. He is the
outpost of the Solar system, and receives the influences of
the
stars.
Here,
he is the vice·regent of Nuit, the Star
Goddess. For this reason he represents the eternal, just as the
Sun docs; but he is the circumference, while the sun is the
centre, the Mother, and the Sun the Father.
24. The (vii magician in th( Grail Legend. His Choteau Merveil was a
diabolical travesty or Ih( Castle of the Holy Grai
l.
Pierrot singing to the I\loon. And so, in lesser natures, he
comedy, a trickiness and sprightliness
.
.
which have a core of sorrow. And often, too, when asp iration
astray, drugs and drinks are i�v �k�d to cure the
melancholy, the void, the ache for the mfmlte - for all men
goes
do not understand that only He who struck off the soul,
scattering it as a spark of His own fire, can satisfy its cravings.
This is a very significant point, Uranus also causes drug
habits and alcoholism, but in this case it is a vice, a bestiality;
with Neptune it is virtue strayed, a spirituality thwarted.
These remarks have been diffuse and incoherent beyond
excuse. But they will have served their turn if they have
exhibited a point of view, a method of study. Without that
attitude and that gesture no man may come to a comprehen·
sion of the cosmos.
57
Neptune
II
Neptune
wi th his source of heat and motion too remote to cheer him,
but with hope, faith and love.
How spiritual, how star-pure, must then be the secret
thoughts of such an one, the hermit of the solar system? How
indomitable, how loneiy, how refined must be his moods.
Yet there is something in solitude which set men dreaming.
Not always is that dream lhe starry aspiration of the Knight
vowed to some inaccessible lady, often there steals through
the faery \\;ndow a glint of some fantastic mirth. In lighter
The �Iind o f the Father said 'Unto Three!' and immediately
moments, there is something of the troubadour, and even of
a1l things were so divided.
the Pierrot, in his melancholy craving for the inacc(:ssible_
This oracle, attributed to Zoroaster, refers secondarily to
For it is not in the Neptunian nature to reach harbour. He
the division of Nature into the three active clements of fire,
longs for love and friendship; did he gain them he would
air and water. fThe fourth element) Earth is but a mixture of
retire. For nothing can satisfy that thirst of things infinite;
these three in divers proportions. In [his division, according
there is no goal attainable. Neptune is man's boundless spirit;
to Greek theology, the kingdom of Fire fell to Ilades or
Pluto, that of air to Zeus or Jupiter, and that of water to
heaven itself is too narrow for his desires. So into his naturt:
Poseidon or Kcptune.
own anguish; and this is externalised as a love of masquerade.
Neptune is, therefore, the Lord of Ocean, and especially of
comes the gay coquettishness; he becomes conscious of his
He knows that love is unattainable; and so he plays at love.
that Oceanus the great river that girdles the whole earth.
He knows that happiness is beyond his reach; and so he seeks
supposed absurdities of old geography. The earth is not a flat
thrilled through by the wisdom of the stars with whom he
h is not wise to laugh, as the shallow laugh, at the
plate, but the solar system is; and on the rim of this plate is
that lonely sphere, �eptune, the outpost of the fortress of
the Sun. So that it was a most happy accident that this planet
was called by the name of the Lord of Oceanus.
Such is the far-off base, in the wise and true dreamland of
the philosophers, of the palace of our knowledsc. Let LIS see
it by a violation of the limits of existence. His true nature,
holds such raptured communing in the centuries of that
timeless vigil, leads him to mystic trances, to visions of deity,
to mysterious marriages with elements beyond our system.
For he,
the Ishmael of the planets., never turns his face
towards the Sun.
But if he be not steeled to endure exile, to attain the
how their strange symbols have been hints of truth, how
snowy summits of omniscience and bliss by means of the
from the root of poetry has grown the tree of prose.
wise eremite, then the false nature mocks the true. In revels,
First, consider Neptune as a lonely sentinel patrolling the
fantastic and fond, in comedies bitter at the core, in the use
confines of our camp. Think of the solitude and darkness of
of strange drugs or of perverse delights, i n soulless and
that mysterious and eternal journey, what thoughts must
neurotic waking dreams, he seeks to satisfy his soul.
bloom. Mystic, austere, romantic, will they not be? What
Ah, Neptune is the soul!
messenger comet may approach from utmost space? The
And does not this fit the sea? Is not the sea at once
spirit of adventure thrills the blood, frosted as it is by that
infinitely calm, and infinitely angered? Does not the sea take
contact with a space of icy-nothingness, save (it may be)
strange shapes, break up tb'e light into a myriad fantastically
meteors and dark stars. Neptune is always starlit; at its
coloured flaws? Illusion and art, chameleon and dragon, thal
distance from the Sun, OlLr Father, is hardly bigger than any
is
other star.
sunkissed, now terrible in its torment, a whirl of insatiable
So Neptune gallops through sempiternal night
the
sea!
Is
not
the
sea
now
tender,
now adorable,
58
Neplune
A/eisler Crowley
desires? Did not Sappho fling herself into the sea, and did not
Undine draw thence the bitter joy of her veins.
Are nOl the sea's moods unstirred, unplumbed, and do
Touch, draw me with thy kiss
Into thine own deep bliss,
Into thy sleep, thy life, thy imperishable crown!
they not harbor monsters morc terrible than the fancy of
Let that young godhead in thine eyes
of Jason, of Mandevillc2 S and of Swinburne; let the romance
Thy peace, thy purity, thy sou! impenetrably wise.
antiquity ever invented? Ay! Take the ocean of Odysseus and
and the terror, the mystery and the unearthly joy of all the
artists of the world direct your glance; look upon the sea
through their eyes, and draw into your soul the wonder and
the wantonness of it. Then understand how proper is the
Ocean as an image of the soul, how proper is Neptune to be
the ruler of the Ocean. The soul!
Yes, there is the word! Neptune is the soul, with all its
naked nerves played upon by rays of alien systems, malicious,
capricious, fairy, or else like harp-strings swept by some
player from beyond, too subtle and divine for I-lis melodies
to reach the ears of mortals_
Only that sympathy, that yearning, that other-worldiness
in ourselves, that influence of Neptune in our own horo­
scopes, enables us to catch a far-away echo of that lyre, faint,
silvery music of the Psyche of our inmost being.
It was of Neptune at his noblest that the poet2 6 wrote:
The Hermit's Hymn
Pierce mine, fulfil me of their secrecies,
All things which are complete are solitary;
The circling moon, the inconscient drift of stars,
The central systems. Bum they, change they, vary?
Theirs is no motion beyond the eternal bars.
Seasons and scars
Stain not the planets, the unfathomed home,
The spaceless, unformed faces in the dome
Brighter and blacker than all things,
Borne under the eternal wings
No whither; Solitary are the winter woods
And caves not habited,
And that supreme grey head
Watching the groves; single the foaming amber floods,
And OJ most lone
The melancholy mountain shrine and throne,
While far above all things God sits, the ultimate alone!
I sate upon the mossy promontory
Mightiest Self! Supreme in self-contentment!
Where the cascade cleft not his mother rock,
Palpable, formless, infinite presentment
Vast circling with unwearying luminous shock
Sale Spirit gyring in its own ellipse:
Of thine own liglit in thine own soul's eclipse!
Let thy chaste lips
Sweep through the empty aethers guarding thee
(As in a fortress girded by the sea
The raging winds and wings of air
Lift the wild waves and bear
Innavigable foam to seaward), bend these down,
59
But swept in whirlwind lightning foam and glory,
To lure and lock
Marvellous eddies in its wild caress;
And there the solemn echoes caught tht:: stress,
The strain of that impassive tide,
Shook it and flung it high and wide.
Till all the air took fire from that melodious roar;
All the mute mountains heard,
Bowed, laughed aloud, concurred,
25. Bernard hh.ndeville (1670-1733), physician and satirical writer,
author of The Fable of the Bee!>. His leading idea was that 'private vices
are public benefits'.
26. Crowley is referring to himself. See The Collected Works, 1905,
vol. I , page 25.
And passed the word along, the signal of wide war,
All earth took up the sound,
And, being in one tunc securely bound,
Even as a star became the soul of silence most profound.
60
.Ill'i.ller Crowley
Thus there, the centre of that death tJlat darkened,
I sal and listened,
if God's voice should break
Neptune
61
For never hath fallen as dew thy word .
Nor is thy shape showed, nor as Wisdom's heard
And pierce the hollow of my ear that hearkened,
Thy crying abou t the city
For his own sake.
In the house where is no pity,
But in the desolate haJls and lonely vales of sand;
Lest God should speak and find me not awake,
No \oice, no song might pierce or penetrate
That enviable universal slate.
The Sun and �Ioon beheld, stood SLiD.
Not in the laughter loud,
Nor crying of the crowd,
But in the farthest sea, the yet un travelled land.
Only the spirit's a.xis, will,
Where thou hast trodden,
And in the monotone mood
Mine, and thy life my life, and thou, who art thy God, my
.
God.
Considered its own soul and sought a deadlier deep,
Of supreme solitude
Was neither glad nor sad because it did not sleep
I have trod;
Thy fold have been my folk, and thine abode
But with calm eyes abode
Draw me with cords that are not; witch me chanted
Abode alone, nor even rejoiced to know that it was God.
Woven of silence, moulded in the haunted
Patient, its leisure the galactic load,
Alt change, all motion, and all sound arc weakness!
Spells never heard nor open to the ear,
Houses where dead men linger year by year,
I have no fear
1\lan cannot bear the darkness which is death,
To tread thy far irremeable way
Cried on the cross and !rd\'e his ghoslly breath,
Beyond the night, beyond the skies,
Even that calm Christ, manifest in meekness,
On the prick of death,
Voice, for his passion could not bear nor dare
The inter-lunar, the abundant air
Darkened, and silence on the shuddering
Hill. and the unbeating wing
Beyond the paths and palaces of day,
Beyond eternity's
Tremendous gale; beyond the immanent miracle.
o secret self of things!
I have nor feet nor wings
Except to follow far beyond Ileaven and Earth and Hell,
Of the legions of !lis Father. and so died.
Until I fix my mood
Poised between fear and will?
I grow the thing I contemplate - that selness solitude!
But I, should I be still
And being in thee, as in my hermit's hood
Should I be silent. I, and be unsatisfied?
For solitude shall bend
Self to all self-fulncss, and have one friend,
Self, and behold one God, and be, and look beyond the
end.
Neptune in the Zodiacal Signs
The innuence of the zodiacal sign upon Neptune operates
only in a limited manner. As Neptune takes fifteen years or
so to pass through a sign, generalisations must be obselVed.
o Solitude! how many have mistaken
Were we to say 'Neptune in Aries indicates the martial
Only thy children lie at night and waken -
between 1 8 6 1 and 1 8 7 5 have the martial temperament'; but
o Soul of Tears!
planets by an aspect of Neptune, it is clear that there will be
Thy name for Sorrow's or for Death's or Fear's!
How shouldst thou speak and say that no man hears?
temperament',
it
could
be
translated
'All/persons born
where we arc considering the modification of some other
62
Neptlillt!
A/eister Crowley
a difference between the action of Neptune when he is in
63
that he represents the influx of a spiritual element which
cares nothing at all for the affairs of this earth. The other
Aries and when he is in Taurus. I-lis characteristic as the
Zeitgeist will act and that most efficiently upon the other
planets deal with the relative; they
planets.
Neptune intrudes upon them as the absolute and incom·
are commensurables;
We shall now proceed to a study of the action of the signs
mensurable. He represents in life the effect of the squared
upon Neptune, asking the reader to bear this limitation
circle and the double cube in mathematics. For those who are
carefully in mind.
devoted to the spiritual he is, therefore, wholly good; for
others wholly bad. He wrests them from serenity.
Conjunction generally means confusion, unless the natures
Neptune ill Aries
There is vcry lillie sympathy between the hard. practical, fire
of the conjoined planets be very harmonious. The conjunc­
and energy of Aries and the cold sensitive Neptune. The
tions of Neptune arc therefore ominous to the conjoined
combination
planet unless there be other support.
makes for disruption; its aspect to another
planet, other things being equal, is likely to be somewhat
Opposition generally means conflict and exhaustion; both
upsetting. Those aspects which we describe as good will be
planets lose in force. The quartile aspect means attack; both
not so good when Neptune is in the sign, as if he is in one
planets become more brutal. (This is not always necessarily
more harmonious with his nature. In all cases of war and
bad: for example, Sun quartile t>.fars in a question of Health
other businesses requiring initiative and energy, the influence
might seem a rude robustness.) The sex tile aspect is friendly,
is likely to be particularly unfortunate. Neptune may be
bringing out the softer qualities of both planets.
regarded as taking away all the good points of Aries, and
replacing them by the very opposite qualities
�
the passive
The trine aspect resembles the alliance of two great kings.
They mutually support and defend one another; the strength
for the active, the soft for the hard, the sensitive for the
of both is brought out in its best form. This aspect is more
forceful. In the particular technical case of the sailor, the
important when the planets are large and slow-moving.
indications are not so objectionable, though it seems unwise
These remarks should be taken into consideration in the
to entrust the welfare of a fleet to an Admiral with Neptune
study of the following. For convenience and brevity the
rising in Aries. Such an appointment could only be excused
aspects have been classed simply as friendly and unfriendJy;
by some extraordinarily good aspects from such planets as
and they must be modified according to the map whose
�Iars and Jupiter.
When Neptune is a detennining force in questions of
health, he will perhaps cause the affliction to take place in
interpretation is demanded. The exact plane, on which the
effect operates, depends of course upon the houses in which
they are situated, or which they rule.
the head rather than in another part of the body. Rather than
repeat this remark in every sign, one may briefly indicate
Nepturle and Uranus
here that it should be modified in each case by altering the
These two planets are of supreme importance in the affairs of
word head to the part of the body indicated by the sign.
the spirit. (For example, they were conjoined at the birth of
the poet Baudelaire, and when in exact opposition announce
Neptune arid the other planets
In that baser and narrower astrology which concerns itself
solely with the material plane, Neptune appears as a malefic.
One may go so far as to say that he seems more sinister and
obscure a malefic than even Saturn. The reason for this is
the birth of a Master of the Temple. Events such as these are
cosmically more important than the fall of empires.) Their
natures being so potent and opposite, they refuse to har­
monise; every aspect that they make is the signal for battle in
the wars of the world-souL And, the Universe being in
motion toward Absolute Truth and Beauty, every such battle
is a victory for love.
Neptlme
Aleisln Crowley
In otherwise unimportant nativities, the friendship of these
conjunction.
They
are
also
close
65
to
semi·scxtile in the
planets implies a struggle of the soul, a self-analysis probably
nativity o f Joseph Smith ! J J
higher. This may manifest itself in the outer in strange ways,
between the friendly and unfriendly aspects or these planets.
The conflict is perhaps more terrible in the latter case and
long and bitter, but almost certainly ending in victory for the
not indicative to the thoughtless of what is reillly taking
As prcviously obscrved, there is not so great a difference
place. We may find a reeluse, an amiable crank, a fanatic, a
may rage unabated throughout the life. But in such contests,
In those horoscopes which arc otherwise important, and
split Christianity in half, had these planets in a fiery sign
self.torturing saint.
give more or less immediate fame to the native, we expect a
friendship of Neptune and Uranus to make him principally a
the battlc is more important than its results. Luther, who
within 10° excited by the violence of passion implied in a
close conjunction or Mars and Venus. They are united in the
reconciler of certain deep antimonies. They were within 3° at
horoscope of Ruskin, whosc radical criticism of art and life
tendencies o f religion and science with his doctrine of the
burne, whose Muse petered out before he had written six
the birth of J lerbert Spencer,2 1 who reconciled the warring
in the horoscope of
years, as also in that of Tennyson, who strove to make
is true of Pasteur, who revolutionised medical
with Uranus, making him a toady and selfish scoundrel.J4
Unknowable; and exactly conjoined
Baudelaire, who united good and evil in his moral infinite.
The same
made so famous a fiasco, and semi·sextilc in that o f Swin­
science; and of Copernicus, who founded modern astronomy
merchandisc o f poetry. Tennyson had also r-.lars conjoined
Savonarola had them sextile and perished in the flames which
by his extraordinary and world·upheaving discoveries. Also of
he himsclf kindled. Dante, who had them quartile, made of
Kruger29 who broke the British Empire. Neptune and Uranus
Burton, England's greatest linguist and explorer, a magnifi­
General
Grant,2 8
who
reunited
America,
and
of
Paul
were sex tile for Cecil RhodesJO and ncar trine for Kapoleon.
his own heart,
cent
poet,
a
hell,
most
purgatory and heaven.
original
Sir Richard
thinker, had them in exact
Of those who attempted similar or lesser problems, we
may quote Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence,J I the Shakespeare­
conjunction in the third house. J S
Owen,J2 ncarly sextile; 'George Eliot' had them within 4° o f
Browning says, our interest lies. The bigger and more threat­
Bacon crank, who had these planets semi-sextile; Dr Orville
2 7 _ Herbert Spencer (1820·1903), English philosopher who, under
the n
i nutnce of Charles Darwin, attempted to reconstruct the whole
range of human thought aJ a 'social evolutionis'·.
28. Ulysses Simpson Grant (1822-1885), Republican, became 18th
President of the U.S_A. He hOld been eommandn-in-chid of the Union
Army in the Civil War.
29_ I'aul Kruger (1825.1904). Boer leader and President of the South
African Republic, discouraged the Boers from supponing the Zulus
agaimt Britain in 1878·9 on the grounds that 'one must never join with
savages in war against a ch'ilised nation'_
30. Cecil John Rhodes (1853-1902), British statesman, financier and
pioneer imperalist who helped to open up Africa and established the
British colony of Rhodesia.
3 1 . Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence Bart ( 1 837-1914), Member of
Parliament for Truro, 1895·1906.
32. Orville W. Owen, author of verse plays, nourished at end of the
nineteenth centllry.
On the whole, then, one may consider aspects of these
planets
as
'on
the
dangerous edge of things' where, as
ening the aspect, the better for the world at large, if not for
the peace and comfort o f the native. The minor key o f strife,
the lesser phases of the soul, often mean mere eccentricity.
Beware of people born on 4 November 1880, or there­
abouts and o n or near 3 December 1900.
Neptune and Saturn
The aspects o f these two planets arc extremely powerful, as
the one fills the defects of the other, while maintaining the
plane of high mentality. Their combination is not so spiritual
33. Joseph Smith ( 1 805-1844). the fOllnder of the �Ionnon sect.
34. Tennyson was one of Crowley's bugbears: hence these insults_
35. Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821 -1890) was one of six people to
whom Crowley dedicated his six-volumed autobiography, The Con­
fessions ofAleister Crowley, 1969 (in one volume).
Aleister Crowley
66
Neptulle
67
as that just considered, but for this very reason it is more
influence is very strong, but very treacherous. Gladstone had
The first point that strikes the observer is that both planets
always hosts of friends, he was always being ruined by cabals.
unfriendly (and in this case the conjunction is definitely evil,
suffered terribly from sensitiveness. Neptune was in conjunc­
obvious and Olore puissalll in everyday life.
are solitary, and. therefore, in a mundane sense, sad. When
unless both planets are very powerful Of well supported by
more genial orbs) they bring misfonune and melancholy. The
native is lonely, a recluse, occupied with forebodings or, in
the best case, with ascetic and austere thoughts. He probably
lacks sympathy and may be a cynic or misanthrope. He is
difficuh to approach; he repels. Yet though slow and un­
practical, he'is liable to be the sla\'c of whims. Often old agc
brings definite melancholia. George Ill, the 'old, mad, blind,
despised
and
dying King' of Shelley's sonnet had these
planets in conjunction.
Fortunately, however, the influence is frequently trans­
muted into art, the art of the lVeltschmerz . Coleridge, Chopin
and Alfred de Musset36 all had this conjunction. All three are
representatives of the minor key. In the case of Coleridge, the
conjunction of Venus is added and the softening influence of
these planets in conjunction in the .I I th and although he had
Rossetti,
another case
in point, was melancholy, and
tion also with �lars and he ended in madness. A trine of Sol
made him a great artist in spite of this misfortune.
Thcre is a very extraordinary case of the conjunction of
these planets on the cusp of the tenth house, where, helped
by Jupiter, the native had what may also be called a double
mind. Not only could he do two things at once, but he could
never do less!
The friendly aspects arc extremely fortunate, giving extra­
ordinary competence in one's profession, a complete mastery
of technique, superadded to tremendous energy and creative
force, great vitality and capacity of comprehension. The
effect of the trine aspect is shown in such superb careers as
those of Michael Angelo, Pasteur and Lord Roberts.3 8 Even
the sextile and semi-sex tile aspects are of great valuc in the
race for fame. Gcorge Sand, almost the only feminine artist
this planet increased his sentimentality on the one hand and
since Sappho, had them sextile; and Petrarch and Adc1ina
Oscar Wilde had these planets in quartile and although
temperament at its best and most triumphal; each shows vast
drove him to opium on the other.
both were well aspeeted, SaUlm by Uranus and Neptune by
Mercury; the influence proved fatal. (Neptune was in the
house of public enemies and Saturn in the tenth, the latter
always brings fame and downfall . )
The
aspect
1500
ordinarily
unimportant
seems
most
malefic in the case of these planets. For example, Charles I
and Dreyfus37 both suffered from this_ In political life the
36. Alfred de Musset ( 1 8 1 0.1857), French poet, playwright and
novelist whom Sainte-Beuve described as 'a child of genius'. ExcessiV('
indulgence in sex and alcohol brought him to an early grave.
37. In 1894. Alfred Dreyfus. an officer of the French General Staff,
was convicted of spying for Germany, and sentenced to lifelong
imprisonment on the dreaded Dc-vil's Island. Dreyfus happened to be a
Jew, and his trial behind dosed doors and conviction plunged france
into anti-semitic fervour. The letter convicting Dreyfus was a forgery.
In 1897, the statesman Georgu Clemenceau, 'The Tiger', who was to
lead France to victory in the First World War, started his fight for a
rc:�xamination of the case. Four weeks later, the novelist Emile Zola
Patti scmi-sextile. Evcry onc of thcse cases shows the artistic
capacity for detail, as wcll as for magnitude of aim; each
joined the ranks of the Dreyfusards, and published his celebrated
manifesto, rA e-CUll!. France divided into two hostile factions. those for
the Army and France and those who were for Dreyfus or shnply against
the people on the other side. Among the Dreyfusards were not a rew
anti-semites. In 1898. Major Walsin·Esterhazy. another officer of the
French General Staff. was dishonourably discharged because of
embezzlement. He hurried to a British jo umalist and confessed that
under orders from his superior. Colonel Sandherr. he had forged
Dreyfus's handwriting on the incriminating document. The following
year the Court of Appeal annulled the original sentence against
Dreyfus, and gave him ten years instead of life. A week later, the
President of the Republic pardoned Dreyfus. but it was not until 1906,
when Clemeoceau became Prime Minister, that Dreyfus was acquitted.
French emotions over the Affaire Dreyful have not yet entirely
subsided, Dreyfus died in 1935.
38. Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts of Kandahar. Pretoria
and Waterford (1832-1914). British field marshal. He commanded the
British forces in the Boer War ( 1 899-t900).
68
Neptullc
..Jieister Crowley
assures
fame based on the respect due to singleness of
iI
purpose and purity of heart.
anylhing in Ibsen or Wagner. They live and move and have
their being and the characters of the slOry arc puppets in
their hands.
The same criticism applies to the work of Pico de Miran·
Neptune alld Jupiter
The religiolls and genial effcct of J upilcr turns Neptune to a
warmer shade of blue. Thus we find a kindly, easy-going
doia,4 2 who had the same aspect, as had Cecil Rhodes43 and
Brigham Young,44 who both strove to fashion empires, each
humanitarian style of mysticism in such men as Colonel
in his own way, one with a new religion, the other with
planets sex tile. (In the case of Petrarch a square aspect of Sol
and Luna tinged his work with the insight of realism, the
even brutal method (Rhodes' trine of Sol gave him added
of Saturn added tht; austerity and purity which we praise.) In
semi-sextilc
Olcotl,l9 Pelrarch and Lord Lytlon40 who had these two
quartile is admirable to strip off illusion, and the semi-sextile
the horoscope of Shelley, �lars and Jupiter arc both con·
money. Each had the romantic aim; each had the reaJistic,
glory, wealth and success).
Turning to friendlier aspects, we note Lewis Carroll, whose
of Venus
(in
the Ascendant) added to the
semi·sextile of Jupiter, made him not only a religious artist,
joined with Neptune in the ninth house. It is not saying lOa
but a lover of childrcn. (The peltiness of the aspects is,
ity'. Mars and Jupiter conjoined give more force than any
horoscope is really first rate without good aspects or strong
much to affirm that Shelley created the 'religion of human·
however,
other combination, and we must contrast Shelley with J.P.
positions of the maJe planets Sol, �Iars or Saturn. Jupiter is
1'\'10rgan,4 1
(1837·1913),
in whose nativity thcy are in oppo·
a
limitation.
It is aJmost safe
to say that no
too comfortable to move the world alone; he likes things as
sition to Neptune. One shows the power of ideals, the other
they are.)
find Macterlinck, a flabby pscudo.mystic, a humbug, an
rising �foon of Alfred Drcyfus4.5 was squared by Mars, and
vcstmcnt Jupiter; religion robbed of its essence and become a
Ascendant, a mundane opposition and a close aspect of
at once the brreatest of poets and the greatest of religious
were counteracted in the end by the trine of Jupiter to
the power to work against them. Similarly, without 1\'lars we
amateur,
the internal soul of Neptune at
issue with its
vampire. Yet had only �lcrcury lent aid, hc might have becn
Of the trine aspect we have onc shocking example. The
Saturn
in
the
seventh
house
afflicted
Neptune
in
the
1500•
But the frightful calamities brought about by these positions
tcachers.
Neptune.
realism in religion and statesmanship or in ethical teaching
colour of the soul on whom these planets throw harmonious
The squarc aspect is not so exhausting. It gives tremendous
whether through art or directly. Thus we find Zola (express·
To return to our opening remark on the warmth and
ray', we have two suprcme examples of the trine aspect,
ing himself in art owing to the semi·sextile of Venus) as a
Johann Wolfgang Coethe and J.M.W. Turner. Compare these
realism,
Saturn and note the larger humanity and less strictness. Each
builder of social theories based on ruthless realism. Yct that
unknown
to itself, is founded on a
thoroughly
romantic idea. The railway engine in La Bete I/umaine and
the still in the L 'lIssommoi, are much more symbolic than
39. See note 2 0 1 .
40. Edward Robert Bulwer, se:cond Baron and first Earl Lyllon
(1831.1891). novelist and Viceroy of India. llis occult novel Zanoni
impressed Madame Blavatsky. He entertained Eliphas Ltvi at his
fantastically romantic stalely home. Knebworth !louse in Hertford·
shire.
4 1 . See note 4.
•
69
with the nativities already cited in regard to the trine of
42. The Christian Qabalist. born 1463, died 1494. According to
F.liphas Lhi . Pico de Mirandola was of the opinion that 'in Black !\.Iagic
the most barbarous and unintelligible words are the most efficacious
and the: best'. Crowley was of the same opinion. See Mllgicit, ch.9.
43. See note 30.
44. Brigham Young (1801·1877). !\.Iormon leader and head of the
Latter Day Saints of Salt I.ake City. At his death he had seventeen
wives.
45. Se:e note 37.
70
71
NepllHll'
Aleister Crowley
master of his art in an equal degree to Michael Angelo and
Pasteur, yet both mOTC vivid, morc all-embracing, less single­
minded. It will depend largely on one's own horoscope as to
which pair one chooses as more useful to humanity; but to
lIsually called favourable. It takes away the impracticality of
Neptune and the obstinate blindness of Mars is cured by
imagination. Hence we find this aspect in such horoscopes as
those
of
Jay
Gould4 8
and
William
III
of
England.
any intelligent mind the nature of the difference is obvious,
and consideration of the point is extremely instructive as
Tchaikovsky. too, has this; and in addition �Iars is in close
conjunction with the Sun. William Jemlings Bryan49 has
illustrating the disparity between Jupiter and Saturn in their
influence on Neptune.
Mars in the tenth house, square to a conjunction of Neptune
and the Sun. Despite other bad aspects, �tercury square
Jupiter and Saturn opposition Luna, this has given him his
Neptune and Mars
The influences of these planets are so opposite in nature that
moment of success.
The conjunction is usually
disastrous in the long run,
not even their strongest and most favourable combination
though it may spell temporary success. It is the strength of
�(ars unpractical, to make him hold his hand at the very
him the trine of Luna and the square of Venus add weight
seems productive of much good. Neptune tends to render
moment when his only
chance is to strike with
all his
strength. In Charles I and George V, we find the trine aspect;
fanaticism and we find it in Wilhelm lIS 0 (fortunately for
and dignity to the combination, besides turning its angry
Edward VII had the sex tile. In each case we find a ccrtain
energy to peacefulness; hence he is able to say that he had
kept Europe at peace for 43 years) and also in King Ludwig
for intrigue. This is no such great defect i n one not a crowned
history is well known, and in that more terrible apostle of an
weak amiability of character combined with a certain talent
head. Chopin had the trine, but this was made mde by a
square of the sun, and strengthened still further by Saturn
and the Moon. He could then succeed in art; but who will
of Bavaria, the patron of Wagner, a monarch whose trabric
idea - Robespierre.
No doubt this conjunction has in it the threat of furious
madness. Napoleon I has this aspect, but Mars is in close
doubt that he would have made a disastrous ruler? The
scxtile
with Jupiter and Uranus in trine. The composer
Neptune trine; but the combination gives him power in a
that his epilepsy is turned to artistic ends and his ravings arc
aspect in the sentimental twaddling Ruskin, though Mercury
case the benefit of Jupiter made his mania humanitarian.
Theodore Roose\'elt47 has the sex tile of �lars; and this
trine of Sol made him the great and versatile artist that we
feeble, dreamy, almost imbecile W.B. Yeats46 has Mars and
Richard Strauss also has this but with sex tile of Venus; so
shadow-world of his own. Again, we find the semi-sextile
musical. Another fanatic, Shelley, has this conjunction; in his
conjoined with Mars lent him eloquence.
Rossetti again became mad, having this conjunction but a
means political adroitness - as Edward VII also enjoyed. But
the
ex·President has also squares of Jupiter and Venus,
lending a certain rugged and impetuous strength to what is, in
its essence, a somcwhat puerile idealism.
The square of Mars is sometimes bctter than those aspects
46. Crowley never lost an opportunity to deride W.B. Yeats. They
met as members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in 1898.
See John Symonds, The Great Beast, 1 9 7 1 , and Ellie Howe, The
Magici
ans of the Golden Dawn, 1972.
47. Theodore Roosevelt (1858.1919), a Republican, became the
26th President of the United States.
48. Jay Gould (1836·1892), the American railway magnate and
speculator.
49. William Jennings Bryan (1860.1925), American politician and
orator who campaigned for the Presidency on the ticket that the United
States should adopt a silver currency. 'America is being crucified on a
cross of gold,' was his cry. He was not elected.
50. The Kaiser, Wilhelm II (1859.1941), whose megalomaniac
behaviour played a great part in causing the disastrous First World War.
Of him, Churchill wrote: 'Nevertheless hiSlOry should incline to the
more charitable vicw, and acquit William II of having planned and
ploued thc World War. Rut thc defence which can be made will not be
nanering to his self-esteem.'
72
. I h'l.\ter Crowlt·y
admire. A curious case is that of Dumas perl'. S I who had
these planeLS in opposition; but their influence i!. masked by
the overwhelming conjunction of Venus, Jupiter and Saturn.
On the whole i t is to be asserted that no aspect of i\lars
and Neptune is very desirable, unless assistance is found from
some
third sphere. ;"Iars is blunt, brutal, blind, material,
obvious, frank, angry; Neptune is the opposite of all these.
Neptune is the eighteenth-century planet, the star of Versail­
les, the spirit in Walleau,s 2 Vcrilline,53 Ernest Dowson;S 4 al1
this is utterly abhorrent 10 Mars. Louis XV made even war
itself an affair of uniforms and ballrooms; the Revolution
turned even the theatre to shambles. It is remarkable how
�Iars comes (0 put an end
(0
Neptune;
73
Nepllme
1 9 1 4 is to thc
decadents (cubists, futurists and the rest in whom an has
turned to disease and dementia) JUSt as the Terror came to rip
up the frilled fooleries of the Ocil.de.Boeuf. S S
Such help as aspects of these two planets afford lies chiefly
in the paths of intrigue. t-.lachiavcllianism is the result of their
combination. Where a talent for intrigue, assisted by the will
and the power to cut a knot occasionally by the daggcr,
means success, thcn a strong aspf'ct of �lars and Neptune may
avail not a lillie. t\lany of the mcdiaeval Popes arc thus
5 1 . Alexandre Dumas (1802·1870), French novelist and dramatist,
author of The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musheteers and other
popular works, was the founder of .·reneh Romanticism. lIis son,
Dumas fils, author of La Dame aux Cami/ias, continued the tradition.
52. ,\ntoine Watleau ( 1 684·1721), great French painter of poetic
sensibility and remarkable technical facility.
53. Paul Marie Verlaine ( 1 844.1896), French poet, companion of
the youthful and extraordinary Arthur Rimbaud, whom he shot and
wounded in a quarrel in Brussels. For a while he taught French and
drawing in an English school. IIis great lyrical gift, combined with his
life of debauchery m.tde him a culture hero among the young. In a fit
of pique and sibling rivalry he srn..shed the bottles which contained the
pickled foetuses of his mother's miscarriages. Havelock Ellis and Arthur
Symons visited him towards the end of his life, which he spent as a
devout Catholic.
54. Ernest Christopher DoWSOIl (1867·1900), English decadent poet
of some merit who lived his short life in misery and poverty
exacerbated by drugs. He was a contributor to The Yellow Booh and
The Saw)', the leading literary periodicals of the time.
55. ,'\ntc·eh'lmber of the Great Hall of the palace of Versailles.
favoured by the stars. (Mars and Uranus have a not dissimilar
innucnce, and are found with equal frequency in such cases.)
In modern times these methods arc slightly and superficially
altered; but their essence remains the same. For social and
court intrigue we substitute the chicaneries of law, use
political pull, buy judges, bribe legislatures; while for the usc
of the dagger and the poison bowl, we have meaner, deadlier
more cowardly and more treacherous - the newspapers.
Neptune arid
Sol
of our remarks on Neptune and Mars is
contrary
The exact
the Sun. He enlightens all that is dim,
and
true of Neptune
weak, in the most distant of the
is
that
strengthens all
planets. As Neptune is the circumference, Sol is the centre, of
the system. She is the image of the soul of the Great Mothe,-,
as he is of the Father. lienee, they arc complementary 10,
one may almost say necessary to, each other and their
people wi.th such
s
aspects, we may look for a completenes of nature which is
bound to spell success. There will be a radiance diffused from
the personality; a joyousness tempered by divine sadness, a
interaction
is
wholly
harmonious.
In
melancholy transformed into abundant joy. The least assist­
ance from a third planet will give the key in which the
melody is to be played, for Sol, and Neptune are so
self.sufficing when together that they have no particular
tinge; therefore the rest of the horoscope will depend much
on the other planets. One can only say of this particular
combination that it forms a steady, grand, hannonious harp
which the Artist can thrill with the 'music of the spheres'. Of
concrete examples of the operation of this law, we have too
many and must content the reader with a selection.
6
Probably the greatest singer in the world, Adelina Patti,S
has Neptune in conjunction with the sun. (Her career was
determined by Mars in his own house in the fifth, trined by
Uranus.) Other conjunctions arc those of Savonarola,s '/ to
56. A eoloratura soprano of unrivalled fame (1843.1919).
57. Girolamo Savonarola ( 1 452·1 498), the great Florentine preacher
and rdormer who denounced the follies and luxuries of the time,
attacking the notorious Pope Alexander VI. He was excommunicated,
imprisoned and burnt.
74
Neptlme
A leisteT Crowley
which r.. lercury was added, detcnnining him as scholar and
mystic. A conjunction of Venus and Saturn only ten degrees
75
We now turn t o the trine aspect, and find indeed a galdxy.
T.II. HuxleyS 8 had this, and his work not only as a man of
away made him fanatic and ascetic. Erasmus, again, the one
science but as a philosopher, must endure for ages, while the
conjunction aided by the moon. �Iercury and Venus COIl­
his bitlerest enemies. Rossetli had this and it made him
divine, despite the evil innuence of :\tars. Genera! Grant,S 9
great
light
of scholarship
in the Middle Ages, had
this
joined in the Ascendant, Libra, wcre the factors that decided
his life. Edison, like Savonarola, has Neptune with the Sun
and f!.lcrcury. Here Scorpio rising, with its lord wcll-aspccted
in the third house, makes practical science the basis of the
life. Gladstone has these same two planets semi-.;cxtile to
Neptune; !.hey afe on the cusp of me Ascendant, and gave
him his ambition, eloquence and force. William Shakespeare
had Sol and Luna in conjunction semi-sex tile to Neptune, the
latter being i n the tenth, the house of fame. Jupiter and
Saturn were also in exact conjunction in that same tenth
house.
Petrarch has Mercury and the Sun conjoined and square to
Neptune, but helped by Jupiter and Saturn. Neptune is in the
fifth, the house of art, love and beauty. Emile Zola had a
conjunction of Sol and Luna semi-sextile to Neptune; the
latter is semi-sextile to Venus; showing the artistic outlet of
his energy. while the square of Jupiter indicates his anti­
religious standpoint, and the opposition experienced by him
from the clerical party.
Chopin has Neptune with Saturn square to the selling Sun,
and Neptune is ·in the worst place for him, the nadir. This
gave the wistfulness and melancholy to his work. Fortu­
nately, the energy of �Iars and the purity of the ]\loon united
to save him. Tchaikovsky has the square, but Mars is with the
Sun.
Queen Elizabeth of England had the opposition of Sol and
Neptune,
in
reverse gives
thc tcnth and fourth, both ill places - the
the
best
places
and this accounts for her
dynastic failure as well as for her actual success as a ruler and
defender of her country. (Sol is in close trine to Saturn,
giving her the resolute stability of moral character which we
harmony of his personal character was the admiration even of
g
one of the three political li hts of America, also had this
trine. So had Cecil Rhodes, 0 though a square of Jupiter
baulked
him
and he died
George V of England has a sextile of the Sun and a trine of
Uranus may lose him his throne.
the twelfth squared by
his
work unfinished.
Venus, (a comparatively unimportant pawn in so great a
game) he accomplished the revolution of astronomy. in this
case a conjunction or Uranus and a trine of Saturn assisted.
Hence the cosmic scope of his world-shaking achievemenl.
Michael
Angelo
has
this lrine, with a conjunction of
Mercury and Venus rising, sex tile to Jupiter. The �Ioon and
Uranus conjoined in Scorpio trine to Saturn in the fifth
house, gave him his majestic comprehension of art, and his
creative energy and power of execution.
In conclusion, one can but reiterate that a favou rable
aspect of these two planets in strong position and well·
dignified, especially if they are helped by good angles of
other planets, is one of the most fortunate circumstances
possible, an asset in life to be preferred to almost any other.
Neptulle and Venus
The combination of Neptune with Venus is as generally evil
as that with Mars, but for precisely opposite reasons. Venus,
it is true, means love, beauty and grace, tenderness and the
rest: but unless these qualities are stiffened by some male
element, they mean in practice, mere weakness, sloppiness,
sentimentality. The old alchemists described Venus as having
'external splendour and internal comlption' and astrology
bears this out. Venus is the false gold, the corrosive and
poisonous copper. We shall find this dictum amply confirmed
in our exemplifications. Venus is too like Neptulle to be a
associate with her name; and Jupiter is rising.)
Mars, but Jupiter imprisoned in
leaving
Copernicus, too, had (his aspect; and despite a square of
58. See note 3.
59. See note 28.
60. See note 30.
Nepl II Ill'
A/(·tsll'r Crowley
76
good male for him; she is tJ1C 'visible soul of Nature' of which
he is the invisible; and (as we learn in The Chymical Marnage
of Christian Roscncrcutz6 1 it was forbidden to the seeker to
look on Venus. l ienee even the best aspects .of these two
planets declare a soul so passive and impressionable that the
rest of the horoscope has too much power; and even if this
power be 'good', it
strength
is not well in the end. Only actual
from some steadier planet joining in the combi­
nation itself, can assure a real success. In other words there
mllst be something so to dominate that the Venus aspect
becomes but a junior partner in the firm. Hence in the
77
and the violent energy supplied by the sextile of !\Iars, has
the square of Venus, and his catchwords, his appeals to the
cruder and baser idealism have ultimately choked him. Sir
Alfred lIarmsworth (Lord Northcliffe ) 6 3 has the sextile
aspect, and he is but the statesman of the street corner, the
purveyor of mental sewer·slush to the gutter-mind. Undoubt­
edly these aspects give persuasive power; but it is only the
foul power of hypocrisy. It rests upon illusion. All that is dim
and faery in Neptune, instead of being confined is made
horrible by the essential falsity and worthlessness of the
unredeemed and vampire Venus, who is not Venus· Urania,
horoscopes of such brilliant men as Zola, Goethe, Brigham
but that Lilith64 that haunts the dreams of evil men, that
(hat of Coleridge wc find Mercury and Saturn coming to the
demons of the pit.
Young. and Theodore Roosevelt we find the aid of Jupiter; in
reSCliC. Coperniclls was saved by a trine of Sol. Where Venus
feeds on sleeping children, the first and most fatal of all the
aJone with Neptune means Sllccess, it implies Hypocrisy or
Sentimentality.
For
example,
planets trine and her age
Queen
Victori a had
these
is still a byword among men.
Swedenborg had them sex tile and his religion is back-bone­
less, a cult of cranks without virility. Backhaus has them
conjoined and we find a pianist whom one can only caJl
'accomplished'. Kruger had the trine aspect and no viler old
Neptune and Mercury
The aspects of these two planets are very favourable. �lccury
lends
intellectuality
to
the
mystic
planet
and
Neptune
redeems the cold brilliancy of lhe star of reason. At the same
time, Mercury is the trickster, and Neptune the master of
masquerade,
and these, in combination often produce a
whimsicality or perversity whose benciit depends chiefly on
the conjunction of Mars and
the rest of the horoscope. In good ways it may mean wit, in
Jupiter not far off made him also vigorous, astute and brave.
bad crankiness and faddism. It sometimes gives logic divorced
Wilhelm 11,62 with the quartile, risked the very existence of
from common sense.
his country again and again by his culpable determination to
In W.E. GladslOne, the semi·sextile (aided by the Sun) gave
keep the peace of Europe; Louis XVI with the sex tile lost his
eloquence and politicaJ adroitness; thus he was the greatest
humbug ever mled though
throne and his head by refusing to sweep away the mob with
orator and parliamentarian of his period. Edison, with a
a 'whiff of grapeshot'. Tolstoy had the conjunction, and was
stronger form of this double aspect, is the master-mind of his
a sentimentalist to the point of lunacy; Dickens with the
age in practical applications of science. Petrarch, too, has the
cusp of the third, in his own Capricorn square �Iars in his
eloquence
square, ruined his magnificent genius for satire (Saturn on the
Sun
and
�tercury
square
to
Neptune,
and passion unequalled.
and we
find his
Dante who harnessed
own house Aries) by the worst kind of Victorian squeamish­
intellect and mysticism to the chariot of satire and invective,
ness and imbecility. Theodore Roosevelt once more, in spite
had Mercury and Neptune sex tile. Coleridge has the semi·
6 1 . The pseudonym of Johann Vakntin Andreae, author of
Chymische Hochzeil. Strasuourg, 1 6 1 6 , translated as The Chymical
Weddi/zg by E. foxcroft and published in London in 1690.
62. See note 50.
63. Alfred Charles William Harmsworth (1 865·1922). 1st Viscount
Northcliffe, British newspaper proprietor, founder of the Daily Mail
and Daily Mirror and father of the yellow press.
64. According to Rabbinical tradition the demoni, Lilith. the
'mistress of spirits', was Adam's wife during the 130 years he spent
apart from Eve. With the appearance of Eve she vanished.
of the brutal force of realism given by the square of Jupiter,
.-lieister Crowley
78
Nl'P lune
79
scxtilc and his table-talk was the delight of his contempor­
Such is the case wi th Eustace Miles, who proposed to rcfonn
the
after·dinner speeches with puns on the names of the persons
aries. So had Luther, whose intellect and eloquence shook
world.
Both
these
had additional helps
from other
A third case is Ruskin, whose prose remains an
planets.
the world by a diet of health foods, and who loads his
present.
Hereward
Carrington6 8
goes
even
further and
enduring monument of his era. Napoleon, whose intellect,
proposes complete starvation as a cure for all the woes of
also enjoyed this aspect. Alexandre Dumas6 5 has Mercury
sex tile
not only as a commander, but a lawgiver, has few parallels,
trine, and despite the evil aspect of Mars, wrote !..he most
brilliant
novels
of
adventure
that
exist
in
the
French
language. Savonarola has this conjunction with Mercury and
Sol; he was the most eloquent and learned doctor thaI even
man. Logically , he is right of course! Fortunately, a trine and
of
Uranus
came to his rescue and maturity has
brought him some degree of wisdom, or at least of common
sense.
Enough has been said; it must now be clear to all in what
Florence can blazon un her shield. Balzac has these planets in
way these planets act and reacti how their operation is
this
larly speech which is the issue of the mind. It is not a great
opposition but helped by a semi·sextile of the moon; from
we can divine his sword·sharp
intellect, his infinite
comprehension of mankind, and his summary of it all as a
comedy or masque. The square excites a bitter cynicism, as in
the
case
of
Byron.
Philip
Bourke Marston,66
the blind
pre.Raphaelite poet, has them in opposition; he is the most
clear.sighted and realistic of the artificial schooL
Of the fine power of the trine we have t\\lO brilliant and
perfect examples; Oscar Wilde and Bernard Shaw. The wit of
these two is absolutely typical of the aspect. The lesser
sex tile is exemplified by George du Maurier, the author of
Trilby,
for many years an illustrator of Punch, and his
delicate humour and timid satire are still admired. Banns·
worth, a clever unscrupulous journalist, has [l,lercury trine
Neptune, but there is a sex tile of Venus which has turned all
to ill
(also he has the Sun in opposition to Saturn and
squared by the l\'loon; Saturn is in the tenth; he witl end with
a
crash).
The
conjunction
sometimes
produces
a
great
religious teacher, such as Rudolf Steiner. 6 7 The opposition is
more likely to cause a certain inhibition in true religious
thought, and to tum the impulse to the vagaries of faddism,
to inteUectual acuteness without any sense of proportion.
chieny to determine the qualities of the mind, and particu·
combination for the artist, who asks more of the planets of
fatherhood and of creative energy. Most of lhe examples that
we have given impress us rather as brilliant than as profound.
Gladstone was too clever to be a real statesman; Edison never
made a discovery in abstract science; Pctrarch is not in the
first flight of poets; the star of Coleridge has but three
narrow rays; Luther was not a deep theologian; Ruskin was
but an artist manque; Napoleon never cut at the roots of his
political oaks; Dumas is but a narrator; Savonarola never did
more than scourge the symptoms of the evil he attacked;
Byron never wrote first·rate poetry; J\'larston is but a sorry
rhymster; Wilde
Harmsworth
is
and Shaw have done nothing immortal;
a
byword for shallowness, stupidity and
sensationalism; du Maurier was a hack,
Steiner
a
quack.
Balzac, it is true, was the greatest novelist that trine has yet
brought forth; but the I\lercury and Neptune aspect is of
secondary importance in a horoscope which has Venus and
Mars in conjunction semi·sextile to Jupiter in the tenth, Sol
being also in the tenth only seven degrees away. It indicates
his point of view, and e\lcn to some extent the method of his
work; but the greater gods must be made to speak in order to
65. See note 5 1 .
66. Philip Bourke Marston (1850-1887) a mournful poet. friend o f
Rosseti and Swinburne, who went blind, lost his betrothed and died
young.
67. The founder of the mystical doctrine of Anthroposophy, the
science of man in relation 10 the cosmic forces.
explain his capacity and enerb'Y and his ever·cresccnt and
immortal fame.
68. The author (with S. Muldoon) of The Projection of tht Astrlll
Body. tie was thc model of the character Morningside in Crowley's
novel Moonchild.
80
81
Neptulle
. l Ieisler Crowley
the frail, anaemic, delicate, refined, wistful, gentle creature
Neptulle: and Luna
The remarks to which duty forced us when on the subject of
utterly unfitted by his personality to fight in the world and
to deal adequately with his relations wi th the Moon. For
help of friends (she is trined by Uranus) from constant
mother of illusions.
eighth
Venus and Neptune must be made even more severe if we arc
only saved by Venus on the cusp of the eleventh , implying
Venus has a certain ease and jollity; the Moon is cold, dim,
disaster. There is also a conjunction of Sol and Mars in the
himself lend her of his light. Alone she is but the planet of
strength in hours of despair, but of course it killed him in the
gather their deadly herbs beneath her as she wanes. Neptune,
especially as he is within
witches;
strange
She is utterly dark, unless the Sun
beasts prowl in the darkness; poisoners
too, is an 'octave' of Luna; so hat
t
in combination they bring
the maximum deviation from balance; and all unbalanced
force is evil. We accordingly find an excessive weakness and
effeminacy, expressing itself in peevish melancholy, often
associated with ill·heahh, and with addiction to drugs and
drink. The strong characters, the great men, who have these
planets in aspect have them either unimportant as in the case
(culminating)
implying
sudden
and
unexpected
end. Saturn rising (second house) is more melancholy still,
2°
of the opposition of Jupiter.
Dreyfus has the same aspect, a conjunction, and it made
him the sport of a most evil fortune, despite the trine of
Jupiter which could do no more than secure his ultimate
rehabilitation. The trine aspect is again found with Guy de
Maupassant and to this, no doubt, we may attribute his
nervous subtlety. But he has Venus rising in conjunction with
Jupiter and Mars, an ovenvhelming force of character to
of Wagner, who has them scxtile, bUl has the Sun rising (on
counteract the otherwise weakening effect.
semi-sextile Mercury, an array which ulterly outshines them
whose Neptune is not only in conjunction with the Moon,
the exact cusp of the Ascendant) trine Mars sextile Jupiter,
- or assisted by some masculine benefic. Thus Shakespeare's
semi·sextile is also a semi-sextile with Sol; Erasmus has Sol as
As a final example, we have the notorious Mabel Collins,7 2
but trine 1\lars, square Venus and sex tile to a conjunction of
Saturn and Uranus. Such a hotch.potch of aspects is too
well as Luna in conjunction;· Zola has Sol and Luna conjoined
confusing ever to be good. Hence her Neptune in the fifth,
sextilc is fortified by Mars and the
Rer books were but medleys of mania, ill·writlen, pretentious
sextile, as well as aspects of Venus and Jupiter; Chopin's
Sun; Philip Bourke
Marston's69 opposition is also an opposition to Mercury, and
besides he had the conjunction of Mars and Jupiter as the
dominant factor in his horoscope. Willielm II has a trine of
the Moon, whence his physical misfortune,70- and his weak
love of peace; fortunately Mars conjoined with Neptune in
the house of pleasures and of art, ruined that part of her life.
and ignorant and her pleasures were unsavoury to the last
degree.
To sum all, we may say that while the combinations of
Neptune and Luna may be most fortunate in stimulating the
imagination, in conferring subtlety and depth of thought, and
the tenth kept that weakness from becoming criminal.
in making the character pure, aspiring and gentle, this will
ultra-femininity of her nature and her wish to masquerade as
unusually strong.
George Eliot has the two planets semi·sextile; hence the
masculine. The Emperor Franz Joseph7 1 has them square; his
life has been a tragedy too great for tears. Robert Louis
Stevenson has them in conjunction; there is a typical case -
rarely be the case unless in other respects the horoscope is
So
recondite
and
obscure
a mode of
thought as is implied will most assuredly suffer shipwreck
from the storms of life unless the ship of the Soul be
armoured with the triple brass and iron of some other planets
better calculated to resist the buffeting of the waves of
circumstance.
69. S�� note 66.
70. Kaiser Wilhelm had a deformed lefl arm.
71. Franz Joseph (1830-1916), emperor of Austria and after 1867
emperor-king of Austria.Hungary.
72. Th� th�osophist, author of Light on the Path and The Blossom
and the Fruit. She was another of Crowley's bugbears.
.l fl'lsler Crowley
82
Neptulle
Neptlme ill tht' Twelve Houses of Heaven
Nothing so upsets the nonnal indications drawn from the sign
It is to be understood that the indications given below refer
only to simple cases - they are modified according to the
sign in which the planet is situated and according to the
aspects which it makes with other planets. As it is, of course,
impracticable to give a separate account of all the possible
combinations, it has been necessary to put down the single,
separate,
simple
crfects
of every
element of which the
configuration of the heavens at any moment is composed,
leaving the student to combine them for any particular case,
in accordance wi th his judgment, experience and ability.
It is usually e<lSY to recognise persons who have Neptune
rising. Even at the first glance it is apparent that they are not
as others. The sensation given is difficult to define, but it is
unmistakable. They seem, in some way, peculiar, strongly
individual, yet not with any common kind of strength. The
genera.l racial characteristics will be detennined more by the
sign rising, the planet which rules that sign and the aspects to
that planet, but it is practically always possible to determine
whether Neptune is in or close to the Ascendant, for his
influence is concentrated in the eyes. These arc often grey or
blue of a rather cold shade, but whether this be so or not,
they have a peculiar magnetic quality. The effect is often
perversity
sometimes
startling.
or
There
madness.
shiflly
and
may
They
arc
secretive;
be
some
coldly
hint in it of
penetrating yet
so characteristic is this
appearance that only a few observations of people who
possess it arc necessary to familiarise the student with it. This
indication is often especially valuable when the hour of birth
i� not accurately known, for if Neptune happened to be
.
nslng, there Can be no possible doubt, and the figure may
then be cast for the appropriate hour with perfect confi­
dence.
The
moral
and
mental
and r�lle.r as the presenc� of Neptune. It docs not modify
them 1 l mtroduces an enurely new influence from a finer and
more powerful plane. The first result of this circumstance
which aurac ts our notice is that the character often betrays a
.
.
contradlctonness, a whimsicality, a perversion, or introduces
some fantastic clement of mockery or masquerade. In some
natures, this will be very profound and far-reaching; in others
shallow, even superficial. This question must be determined
by consideration of the relative strength of Neptune, essential
.
or aCCidental, with the rising sign and its ruler. We may,
.
however, mention a few of the principal observations which
have been made, especially characteristic of its effect. In
Neptlme i1l the First House
weird and
83
characteristics
of people with
Neptune on the Ascendant are singular and subtle. The action
of NeplUne, taking place as it does, in the remotest fastnesses
of the soul causes deep-seated upheavals of the personality.
younger souls,
�
such
as have not freed themselves
:
even
partially, r.om the gross innuences of the physical, a y arning
of the spmt which Neptune represents, is likely to manifest
itself in seeking after strange gods . The use or abuse of those
dmgs which break down the limitations of time and space
and seem to develop the individual, though only temporarily,
at the expense of his environment, is frequently to be secn.
For exactly the same reason, abnormal vices are resorted to
by the Neptunian. The common satisfactions of life appear to
him banal - he has not yet developed that mastery of his
own soul and of the soul of the Universe which brings the
seeker after the hidden mysteries of \ife back to sanity. The
advanced soul knows that life is a dream, but he knows also
that it is a divine dream. He no longer mixes up the planes. In
the beginning of his search, inspired by a sense of dissatisfac­
tion he imagines quite naturally, that by reversing the natural
order of things, which he has decided to be bad he will attain
to good. Indeed this state of thought is probably necessary
for e�erybody at some time or other_ 1I0wever, by following
out hiS path, he c?mes to the conclusion lhat, after all, things
�
arc n? better upsI e down than they were the right way lip.
He wlll then, senSibly enough, take the easiest way - he will
becom� content \�ith life, no longer in the unthinking way
.
which IS characteTistic of the lower animals, but through his
havi�g gained a divine wisdom. No doubt he and everyone
III the world, are but players on a stage, shadows in a
else
dream, but he sees also that in this play he should make the
Nepl II lie
.'l h'l�tcr Crowley
84
best of his part. In this dream, he should not invoke the
powers of the nightmare.
For these reasons, as well as because of our own under­
85
possess knowledge and understanding of the cosmos and have
learned how to deal Witll passion and emotion, it assumes a
less devastating form. There is still the determination to
standing of the divine tolerance which pours the smile of the
attain to the Bourneless Beyond, but tlle method which
t
rain alike upon the just and the
Sun and the tears of he
appeals is carefully reasoned instead of being instinctive, and
unjust, we must not blame Ncptunians [or those peculiarities
common sense takes care that neither health, reason, fortune,
which seem to our cider judgment to be destroying his soul.
or social relations, is put in danger. A person thus gifted may
In extreme cases, it may be necessary that the soul should be
allowed to destroy itself, for only through destruction lies
study strange sciences, but he will not go astray in them, will
devote himself during every moment of his spare time to
redemption. OUT attitude, therefore, should be sympathetic.
prayer and meditation, but will not become a fanatic; will
We should endeavour to understand these wonderful im­
adopt mystical practices which might appear entirely foolish
pulses. It will be useless for us to endeavour to suppress
them. They are divinely ordered, but we may advise the
control of these passions where they seem to us to be doing
more harm than good. It will be well to remember that the
source from which they spring is irrepressible. It comes from
the depths which are the very seat of character, and any
attempts to deal harshly with them arc fore-ordained futile.
to the average man, but he will probably keep his own
counsel in the maller.
TIle gamut of Neptune's influence is thus seen to extend
far from the darkest abyss of hell to the crown of the
heaven's evershining mountains, but the underlying impulse is
always the same. It is the hunger for the infinite. The
drug-fiend, the psychopath, the lunatic and the saint are all
Our attempts would only excite opposition and that oppo·
members of the same family and that which divides them is
sition would be justified, for to our worldly wisdom, it would
not the result of any differentiation in the soul, but rather in
array in battle the army of the all·wise Providence of God.
There is one characteristic of a rising Neptune, which is
the degree of knowledge and experience. It is his mentality
which separates S1. Francis of Assisi from the l'vlarquis de
excessively annoying to the person possessing it. This has
Sade, and in judging any particular horoscope, the character·
been described by Edgar Allan Poe in his story 'The Imp of
isations of the native must be determined by those houses
the Perverse'. The mind of the individual may be perfectly
and planets which govern the mind.
made up, his judgment may be sound and his desire un·
To recount a few of the less important Neptunian quali.
ties, the same impulse which causes an Ignatius Loyala,7 3 a
74
Gilles de Rais,
an Indian Yogi or a Napoleon to determine
hampered,
but
at
the
moment of putting his will into
execution he balks and jibs. Ibsen has pictured the same
quality in his description of 'The Troll in Us', but perhaps the
to be something extraordinary makes impractical persons
clearest and most succint of all the accounts of this curioU!\
with less sense of actuality, detennine to pretend to be
quality is given by St. Paul in his
epistle to the Romans,
something extraordinary ; hence we find people who assume
This is not to be confused with the war of the flesh against
73. St Ignatius Loyola (c. 1491-1556), founder of the Society of
Jesus. His Spiritual E;uTcises is a system of rules, prayers and
self·examination designed to train the whole man for the Christian life.
74. Rais or Retz, Gilles de ( 1 404·1440), marshal of France,
munificent patron of music and the arts, satanist, murderer of
innumerable child":n. The original 'Bluebeard', he died on the end of
the hangman's rope. J .K. Huysmans described his horrible activities in
his novel La Bas, 1 8 9 1 . Crowley was banned from delivering a lecture
on Gilles de Rais to the Oxford Poetry Society in t'ebruary 1930. It
was later published.
Chapter 7, verse 1 5-24.
the spirit, which takes place constantly in all of us, or with
doubt, hesitation, vacillation, and the conflict of impulses, or
the difficulty in striking a balance of judgment. It is pure
perversity.
The quality of aspiration to things beyond the limits of life
is common to all Neptunians and in elder souls which have
passed through the purifying fires, in those same minds which
86
NepllI'W
A leuler Crowley
titles
to
which
they
have
no
right,
who love to wear
extraordinary clothes, who smother themselves in exotic
perfumes, or who make up their faces. This idea may again
express itself in a diHerent kind of action; such, for example,
as Jove of intrigue, of playing practical jokes, of hoaxing their
friends or the public, or of playing some part upon the stage
of life, which is not altogether natural. Better balanced
persons wi ll probably manifest this tendency by actually
going on the stage, where the impulse finds a legitimatiscd
and accepted expression.
In all these matters, it is rare to find a true creative
tendency. Mimicry and imitation are the rule, but there is
usually a certain spice of originality involved. As an example
of a whole period under Neptunian influence, we may cite
the time of Moliere, the seventeenth century, when every·
body masqueraded. I t was not merely the valets and maids
who pretended to be their masters and mistresses' but the
themselves could not conduct the most ordinary
nobles
flirtation without pretending to be shepherds and shepherdes.
ses of the time of Virgil. It has been necessary, this, lest the
�tudent confound this quality with the coarseness, quite
Inexcusable, of snobbery.
TIle Neptunian is usually a somewhat irresponsible person,
he is very inconstant and his moral character appears weak,
because it is based on what seems mere impulse or whim,
87
It seems to me that I should always be well wherever I
am not; and this question of removal is one which I
ceaselessly discuss with my soul.
Say, my soul - poor, deluded soul, what do yOll think
of going and living in Lisbon? It must be warm there, and
you would become as lively as a lizard. It is on the
waterside ; they say that i t is built of marble, and that the
people have such a hatred of vegetation that they pluck up
all the trees. - Ah ! there is a landscape to your liking; a
landscape made with light and mineral, and a liquid mirror
to renect them!
f\"ly soul replies nothing.
Since you love rest so much while contemplating move­
ment, would you like to come and live in Holland, the land
that brings happiness? Perhaps you would find amusement
in that country, whose picture you have so often admired
in museums. What do you say to Rotterdam, you who love
forests
of masts, and the ships moored alongside the
houses?
My soul remains dumb.
Would Batavia smile on you perhaps more sweetly?
There we should find the spirit of Europe wedded to the
beauty of the tropics.
Not a word. Can my soul be dead?
Arc you then come to such a point of enelVation that
rather than on judgment, inspired by self-interest. He usually
you take pleasure omy in your own happiness? If so, let us
knows that he is making himself ridiculous by his antics, but
away to those countries that are the emblem of death. I
the elfishness of his spirit leads him to continue with them,
have it, poor soul, we will pack for Tomeo. Let us go
and a hint of opposition will often cause him to exaggerate
farther still, to the far end of the Baltic, still farther from
the errors of which his friends complain.
Neptune also gives a disposition to wander, a discontent
.
With the place where one happens to be; we make no apology
for quotmg Baudelaire's prose poem 'Anywhere, anywhere
out of the world', which gives a most eloquent picture of the
spirit of which we are speaking:
life, if it is possible. Let us set up our camp at the Pole!
There the Sun strikes the earth obliquely, and !.he slow
alternation of light and night suppresses variety and in­
creases monotony - that better half of nothing. There we
may take prolonged baths of shadows, while, to amuse us
the Aurora Borealis will send us from time to time its rosy
sheaves, like the reflection of the fireworks of Hell.
Then at last my soul broke forth, and wisely did she cry,
This life is a hospital where every sick man is possessed
with the desire to change his bed. One is anxious to bear
'No matter where, no matter where, so long as it is out of
his sufferings in front of the stove, and another thinks that
the World!'
he will get better beside the window.
I
88
,vep/lllt£'
. l lelsler Crowle),
It
from all that has been said that the purely
follows
Neptunian
type
lives
almost entirely
in and through the
89
is much easier to get five thousand dollars than five. This is
one of the reasons why there must always be extremes of
nervous system. Vcry often his body is frail. delicate and
wealth and poverty. The whimsicality of Neptune harmonises
nower-like, but the soul in him burns strong and may easily
very well, therefore, with the nature of the second house, and
lime when the physical
taking one thing with another, the native is not likely to find
functions arc depressed. and the nerves cannot obtain that
himself in any great poverty. If his bank account in terms of
supernormal cnerl:.'Y which they so insistently demand, the
actuw cash, appears small, this need not imply distress. He
wear out the scabbard. At any
result
is
likely
to
be
hysteria
and
nervous breakdown.
may have a sort of Bohemian easiness about the matter. lie is
Persons, who suffer in this way arc, perhaps, fortunate, for
likely to regard money as a very fluid article, coming and
the warnings of nature in such cases arc insistent, and medical
going without apparent reason. It is likely to come when he
treatment, by insisting upon absolute rest and quiet, can
least expects it, and to fly away from him when his grip is
restore them to health. Where
most tightly
responds
with more alacrity
the body is stronger and
to the extravagance of the
clasped upon il. There will wways, too, be
something abnormal about the nature of the means by which
nervous system, the result is likely to be worse. For then,
money is procured.
insidious and often incurable disease obtains a hold, before
usually on the programme. If you offer to such a person
the patient is aware of it. Such troubles as locomotor ataxia,
simple, honest, certain means of making money in large
Straightfor.vard, honest effort is not
(l.
general paralysis of the insane, softening of the brain, and
quantities, he will throw down your proposition. He will
other obscure lesions may perhaps be caused in part by this
want
influence. Worry and all its aLtendant ills are very often
fantastic comedy o f duplicity, which will sound very well and
Neptunian
in
origin.
One
improve
upon it by the introduction of some
conclude by mentioning
completely ruin the scheme. The idea of a square deal is
certain other wasting dieases whose nervous origin is not yet
somehow offensive, and such people arc therefore usually in
understood
financial low water. It has been said of one of them that he
by
the
less
may
to
advanced
schools
of orthodox
would spend a thousand dollars in the hope of cheating
medicine.
someone out of thirty cents.
People with this characteristic are, of course, extremely
Neptune in the Second House
It should first be remarked tllat unless Neptune is well into
the second house or has some planet rising before it, it may
act upon the character very much as if it
\
....ere
actually in the
Ascendant. If this however be not the case, its full influence
suspicious that someone may be trying upon them the game
they would try on others, and they will deprive themselves of
a thousand dearly longed·for pleasures to avoid the suspicion
that someone has got a box of cigarettes out of them.
may be expected upon affairs connected with money and
It must be thoroughly understood that these character­
possessions. By this, one should not understand so much
istics are not at all dishonest in the proper sense of the word.
vested
whole
By dishonest one means a person who, knowing clearly what
fortune, however this may be derived, but rather those things
is right, does deliberately what is wrong, and there is no trace
interest,
inherited
properly,
or
even
the
which are immediately available at any one time, and more
of crime in the Neptunian temperament. It is pure wanton
particularly the earnings of labour, if the native is engaged in
perversity.
such.
The general instability of the financial position will prob·
Thc effect of Neptune in these matters is vcry singular;
money is itself a somewhat mystic and elusive commodity. It
ably work out in many curious ways. Money will often come
in through perfectly legitimate channels, but in every case,
has the unusual property that a large sum is in many ways
there is
much less than a small sum. Any schemer will tell you that it
control of the native, who may usc all sorts of precautions,
a
probability of loss. In some way, quite beyond the
,\'epIIOIl'
A leisler Crowley
90
91
perhaps thrift, pushed to a perfectly absurd extreme, then
mentality must be considered as indicating the development
suddenly a fantastic impulse will arise, and cause the whole
of
amount to be lost in a manner which a grain of common
distinction is not so subtle as it seems. A person may have a
sense, not so large as the proverbial mustard-seed, would have
very conventional personality associated with a very flighty
prevented.
There is, of course, also a strong tendency to gamble.
Unless the fifth house be very strong and fortunate, disaster
is to be expected.
In some case where the rest of the horoscope is well
balanced, particularly with regard to the moral character, the
influence of Neptune may be morc controlled and legitima­
tiscd. This will especially be the case, if he have some
favourable aspect. The income may then be derived from
operations of a Neptunian character. The native may profit
through the stage or through such business as the sale of
the
mind
through
education
and environment.
This
mind, and an essentially eccentric person, on the other hand,
may have a broad deep and well-balanced education. It is just
such peculiarities that are best explained by astrology.
The Neptunian mentality is rather shallow. Very rarc is it
to find any intensity of scientific thought, or any ability to
concentrate upon the business in hand. Quite small impres­
sions and annoyances will cause the attention to wander. The
task of education will probably have been difficult. The child
will not have taken his work seriously, will have preferred to
amuse himself ""ith all kinds of fancies and if he takes up any
study at all, that subject will probably have been fantastic
pictures, especially 'old masters' painted in Philadelphia, the
and unpractical. It is true that most children collect stamps,
dealing in antiquities, the establishment of 'bucket shops' and
butterflies or something for which it is hard to make out a
in general all those affairs in which values are dependent
good case, and which in any event, do not lead to mature
principally upon the caprice, and those which make their
development upon the same lines, but this tendency usually
profit from human vanity and love of Sham. Beauty parlours
dies out at puberty, but the Neptunian intellect carries it on
and quack medicine businesses f!light very likely be associ­
to adult life. It seems incapable of seeing things in due
ated with Neptune in the second house.
proportion and a man, instead of attending to his business,
With regard to his personal chattels, the Neptunian may be
very unfortunate; they are likely to be lost and mislaid in
somewhat inexplicable ways. I-lis own carelessness in this
regard will accentuate the effect.
In conclusion, the native must always be on his guard
against fraud and deception in regard to financial affairs. He
is particularly likely to lose money through trickery and
chicanery in such things as the wording of the agreement. It
will also be well for him
not
to undervalue triOes; the
smallest incidents where Neptune is concerned often lead to
the greatest results.
Neptulle ill the Third House
A great many of the remarks which were made about the first
house are applicable to the third, but in a somewhat second­
will be rummaging around the old curiosity shop in search of
snuff-boxes.
In persons of a more advanced intellectual type, this
characteristic is likely to appear in devotion to rather useless
studies,
and
in
the spiritually·minded, it will lead to a
following out of false paths. In case of afOiction of the
planets, or if the horoscope be generally weak, there may be
far more serious manifestations. One is likely to find imbecil­
ity, sometimes even idiocy in children, while those who pass
through the early stages of life in a comparatively nonnal
way, arc likely to develop some of the milder insanities as
they brfOW older. Possibly it would be fair to say that the
general tendency is towards melancholia rather than mania.
Delusions of persecution will not be uncommon and a bad
direction of 1'\'lars or Uranus might bring about a tendency to
ary sense_ The tendencies which we have noted there are
suicide. In old age, dementia is very likely to occur.
its embellishments, but the third house dealing with the
position of Neptune to endeavour to limit the mischief as
deep-seated and pertain rather to the ego itself than to any of
It is very important in the training of a child who has this
92
,1 (£'ISII'f Crowlf'.\'
closely as possible. The greatest pains should be taken 10
secure for it tcachers and associates who will COllnteract this
innucncc. The habit of mental discipline must be encouraged
to the utmost and though it is improbable that complete
Sllccess will be attained, yet a great deal may be done. The
mind is more malleable than the personality. In following out
this course of action, it mllst be remembered that with so
strong a natural tendency to divagation, with this love of the
unusual and useless, that a single bad influence may easily
wreck years of careful training. The inherent tendency will
always be there and the only question is whether it can be
guided or not. In case it proves ineradicable, the wisest course
will be to endeavour to attach it to other pans of the
individual less afflicted. Considerations of self-interest should
be brought forward and if this peculiar mentality manifests
itself in some hobby, the endeavour should be to develop
that hobby on such lines that it may be of practical use.
With regard to the more general qualities of the mind,
there should be a dangerous degree of unreliability. You can
never tell what such a person may do next, because you never
know what he may think next_ He will probably be un­
punctual from sheer incapacity to understand the value of
lime. lie will probably be unable to follow out any definite
course, because of the power which every new impression
makes upon him. He will go out to dinner and find himself
going for a long walk in the country instead. The smallest
matters attract his attention and he flies off at a tangent. He
will be unable to follow the course of an argument. It is
probable that in teligion he will belong to one of those
shallow, plausible sects which appeal [0 weaker minds. At the
same time, he will probably not be a fervent believer in
anything. His interest is [00 casual and interrupted. It is
extremely likely that he is a good hypnotic subject. His mind,
never strongly and sanely fixed upon any one subject, easily
passes into a semi-conscious state. IIe probably spends his
time in day-dreams. You will sec him agape in the middle of
his daily task. Long trains of disconnected thought pass
through his mind in unwearying succession. Even in the
middle of a conversation he is likely to lapse. As the saying is,
'his wits go wool-gathering'.
Nl'/Jlllnt'
93
These qualities will naturally react, perhaps in a very
marked manllcr Oil the social relations. People with the
Neptunian mind wander in and wander out of other people's
lives in a very aimless and erratic manner. They cali on their
friends for no particular reason at all and drift Ollt again
without having said or done anything. They are usually rather
likable, there is a ccrtain feeling of pity engendered in the
normal man by their pleasant pointlessness. Such friendships,
to abuse the word, often last indefinitely, for the very reason
that they are themselves indefinite. It is quite impossible to
quarrel when there is so little to quarrel with. Occasionally,
one becomes extremely bored, but before one has time to
protest, they are gone and when they tum up again, six
months later, one is possibly quite glad to see them.
The third house also indicates the brothers and sisters of
the native, and the general rule seems to be that any such will
die in youth or else drift away in the course of a few years.
Their character will, of course, be determined by setting up
the horoscope with the third house in the Ascendant. They
will therefore, be of the Neptunian temperament, but their
innuencc upon the native is in no case likely to be great.
Another poiIII to be considered is that of short journeys,
by which is meant those undertaken in the normal course of
life, as opposed to those which are the result of long fore
thought and determination. Such journeys are likely to be
productive of great annoyance, usually in small ways. The
native will carefully pack his evening clothes, forgetting only
the trousers, or he wrongly address his baggage. Again, he is
likely to be unfortunate in getting into the wrong train or
even if he is in the right train, it will probably be late.
Sometimes these petty annoyances take on a more serious
character, he may find himself involved in a railroad wreck.
There are likely, too, to be all sorts of difficulties in the
small details of business - there may be trouble with ac·
eOUIllS , correspondence will constantly go astray - papers
will be filled out wrongly and various kinds of petty fraud are
pretty sure to be practised. Unscrupulous people will cert·
ainly endeavour to take advantage of the native's easiness.
It will be very disadvantageous for the native to enter upon
any serious business, such as a lawsuit for the nickering
94
Nt'PllUW
,'Heister Crowley
95
long-continued application. It will be wiser for him to busy
rambles at night in deserted places. These characteristics,
although unusual, arc not to be regarded as in any way
himself with mallers which come to a head quickly in which
objectionable. Provided that U1e personal it)' is strong and the
quality of his mind is unsuited to any occupation requiring
he knows his gain or loss within a very few hours. For, if the
critical period be extended beyond this. he is likely to be
thinking of something clsc. His memory is not good enough,
as a rule to enable him to pick up an affair at just the point
where he dropped it.
In making these remarks, one docs not forgel that it is
somewhat rare to rind such a mentality as is described in its
simple purity. The influence of the ruler of the third house
will probably make great changes and a further modification
is to be looked for from the influence of Mercury in his
aspects wherever he may be situated in the nativity.
Neptune in the Fourth 1·louse
mind well-balanced, such peculiarities may be very helpful.
Much of the best thinking in the world is done under such
conditions.
The fourth house of heaven refers also to the gra\'e, and it
may be found that people who have Neptune in this position
die far from home in strange places and perhaps undcr very
extraordinary conditions. Those acquain ted with the secret
history of the great know the amazing story of the death of
s
President Felix Faure7
who had this configuration. There is
not necessarily any indication of violent death, but it is not
unlikely that tht:re may be mysterious circumstances - in
one case
it
may
imply
a
public
funeral,
in another a
post·mortem, and in yet another a burial at sea.
It is not particularly pleasant to be so low in the Heavens, but
Another matter connected with the fourth house is in·
on the whole, he is not unsympathetic to Cancer, the natural
heritance, and here one must regard Neptune as decidedly
sign occupying that position, and of course all planets arc
unfortunate, for Neptune is always tricky and the principal
strong and angular.
virtue of any inheritance is that it should come to you
With regard to the father of the native, he is indicated as
being an eccentric person and perhaps worthless; very likely
smoothly,
worry. But
and
straightforwardly
without
any
bother
or
if the native have Neptune here, particularly
he took to drink or became insane. It is quite probable that
under arnictions of Mars or Jupiter, the inheritance may be
his early life was rendered unhappy by the abnonnal con·
contested on all sorts of nimsy and fantastic pretext, and
ditions prevailing in the home. As a child, the native is
delays, or even partial loss (in bad cases, total loss) may be
probably very much out of sympathy with his environment.
expected.
Solitude will have presented much attraction. There will have
All things pertaining to the earth itself and to those things
been little inclination for the company of other children. The
which are hidden in the earth are also indicated by u1e fourth
imagination will have been peopled with fantastic creatures
house, and here again Neptune is not propitious. The native is
of another world, invisible playmates, and the dreams were
very likely to be tricked in any dealings which he may have
with real estate, building speculation, or mining: propositions.
probably strange, fascinating and yet frightful. There was no
fear of being left alone in the dark; on the contrary, the child
will have felt that only when its parents left it to itself it was
free to take up its individual life. The fairy world may have
seemed entirely objective and any attempts to disillusion the
child or to punish it for its strange ways, might result in
serious mental damage. In some cases these tendencies may
persist in adult life, though in a modified form. The native
AJI such affairs, however open UICY may seem upon the
surface, will have certain hidden disadvantages which only
appear later, when the mischief is already done.
Persons born with Neptune in this position should be
extremely careful not to play any tricks with the conscious­
ness. They may suffer severely from insomnia, but they must
on no account attempt to seek relief from narco"lic drugs,
may possibly enjoy solitary, contemplative sports, such as
fishing. I-tis principal pleasure may consist in long, lonely
75. S�� note 150.
96
Aids/a Crowley
97
NepllUW
even those reputed most harmless, for there is
it
peculiarity in
Lord Byron again had this position and although his poetry
of people could take with immunity, fatal to them. Surgical
was singularly sane, no doubt his pleasures were, to some
extent abnormal, as viewed from the standpoint of ortho·
dreaded, morc especially in Neptune is arnictcd by Mars, or if
Bonheur,'7 6 who dressed as a man and associated with men,
their constiLUtion which may make a dose that the majority
operations, even of the slightest character, arc also to be
r-.tars himself is weak in the horoscope. A mere scratch might
bring on blood-poisoning and in the case of larger operations,
the utmost precaution should be taken in the administration
of anaesthetics.
The end of life is also described by the fourth house.
Persons
having Neptune in
this
position
may
expect a
somewhat lonely old age. They will probably outlive those
doxy.
On
the
other hand,
there is
the
case
of
Rosa
but there is no suggestion that this, in any way, detracted
from her uprightness; the force of her character was very
remarkable.
We
know
of another case
through
private
practice, in which the native likes to disguise herself as a
working girl and frequent dance halls in the less wealthy parts
of the city where she lives, and she has spent the summer in
the woods, cooking for a party of girl guides. Neptune is,
who afC ncar and dear to them, and there may be a strong
however, strongly supported by the Sun, and these experi­
forces too may be impaired; in particular, the memory will
of Arc in history, Una and Britomart'7 7 in romance or many
tendency to melancholy in consequence of this. The mental
ences have been no more harmful to her than those of Joan
become very weak and unreliable. The native is not likely to
saint or virgin in the jester's sanctorum.
actuated by the curiously childish impulses that are associ­
Bashkirtseff,7 S
be
settled
in
one place: he will move about aimlessly,
On the other hand, we have such cases as those of Marie
who
found pleasure in writing the most
ated with certain types of senility but such gradual decay
extraordinary diary that has ever been given to the world;
pleasant fancies, possibly similar to those which characterized
spent a great part of his life in fantastic experiences among
need not be unhappy. The second childhood will be full of
the early years of life, though naturally modified, to some
extent, by the experiences of that life.
The fourth house also indicates the mother·in-Iaw and the
student may refer to what is said about the mother in the
tenth house as similar remarks will apply.
enjoyed by the native, and the influence of Neptune, while
very peculiar, cannot be described as unfortunate, except in
bad cases of affliction, or through the general weakness of
the rest of the horoscope. The native is likely to find
clandestine
or,
his station. It will be remembered that his favourite author
was Gaboriaus 0 and that he was usually to be found when
not at work chatting with the students in beer-halls. A less
Langtry.S I We may also instance Martin Luther, who tore a
The fifth house refers in the first ease to the pleasures
in
Rosicrucian friends; and Bismarck, who, though of spotless
moral character, sought relaxation in diversions unnatural to
favourable influence of Neptune is seen in the case of Lillie
Neptune ill the Fifth House
amusement
Bulwer-Lytton,7 9 who set the fashion of occult novels, and
fantastic,
pleasures.
Con­
ventional minds always associate such dispositions with moral
laxity. and this is entirely unjustified. One might instance the
cases of Baudelaire and Maetcrlinck, who both have this
planet near the cusp of the fifth, and one may point to the
very remarkable character of their poetry. No doubt in these
cases, this poetry was a true reflection of the moral character.
nun from the convent and in so doing pulled down the
temporal power of the Catholic Church; and there is also
76. Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899), distinguished animal painter, born
at Bordeaux of .Jewish origin; she was known as 'Rosa Mazeltov',
Hebrew for 'good luck'.
77. Cf. Spenser's Faerie Queene.
78. Marie Constantinova Bashkirtseff (1860·1884), singer, painter.
diarist.
79. See note 40.
80. Emile Gaboriau (1833·1873), French popular novdist and father
of the detective story.
8 1 . Lillie Langtry ( 1 852·1929), known as 'The Jersey Lily'. She was
a mistress of Edward VII and a minor actress.
Nept 11111'
. I leisler Crowley
98
99
George Edalji, who was sentenced to many years' imprison­
strange and curiolls people, and he will manifest his affec·
a campaign which was carried on in connection with a
indicated in the best cases. As, however, this planet on which
ment for a series of maiming outrages upon horses and cattle,
tions in a very unusual way. Spiritual it)' of love is particularly
number of anonymous (cHers sent by him to me police . 8 2
we crawl, has a habit of being \Cry practicaJ, these relations,
gang. which probably existed only in his imagination. The
lead to more trouble than common and gross infringment of
H e called himself Captain Darby, chief of the Great Wyrlcy
anarchist VailiantS ) also had this position of Neptune.
In many cases, however, the indication implies no morc
than a passion for art and music, or even mOTC frequently,
the theatre. From this alone one cannot judge whether there
is much ability
to create Of even to interpret art; such
sometimes work out in a manner far from satisfactory, and
the conventionaJ rules. In many natures, there will be a
disinclination for any kind of love in the ordinary sense of
the word. It is likely to take such forms as symbolism,
fetichism, and other more or less hannlcss weaknesses and
incapacities. There is also a liability to secret and solitary
questions must be decided both by the aspects to Neptune
habits and in particular tht: native may be templed to indulge
things is evident.
convivia.lity in such practices, the native prefers to cnjoy his
and by the tenth house, and the first, but the love of all such
It is unlikely that there will be much
in alcohol, ether, or narcotic dmgs. There is prpbably no
tendency to the enjoyment of outdoor sports, or of the
pcrverse pleasure in secrel.
transient. They will usually involve some kind of make­
those speculations which arc undertaken on the large scale,
less violent, and they should fascinate temporarily, rather
this house such questions as the exploitation of inventions,
The fifth house also refers to children and here Neptune
gambling which is undertaken in cold blood for purposes of
pleasures of study. The indulgences will be rather trivial and
believe; nor are they likely to be particularly vigorous, still
than create any serious interest.
The fifth house also indicates speculation, but not so much
and with a definite end in view. We are not to include under
the establishment of large businesses or evcn any kind of
may be regarded as decidedly unfortunate. Even with a fertile
gain. It is rather when speculation is undertaken merely as an
the native is not likely to have children unless Neptune itself
native. Neptune in this position is decidcly bad. The pend·
sign on the cusp of the fifth house and a well-aspected ruler,
be very well-aspected, or if there are children they will die in
infancy. This is more strongly indicated where the native is a
man; favourable aspects will of course remove this disability
and in such a case, the children may be of the Neptunian
type. This will make them adorable as children, but it is
amusement that the fifth house indicates the fortunes of the
ulum of luck will swing in a very violent and irregular
manner. There may at times be large gains, but they will be
offset by even larger losses. The native will have very little
control of himself in this respect; he will enter the casino
evident from what has been said with regard to the first
with a firm determination not to risk more than the amount
he is carrying about him, but having lost it all in the morning,
health and to education.
He will probably have a settled contempt for mathematics
house, that they will need the greatest care with regard to
As Leo is the sign naturally pertaining to the fifth house,
affairs of the heart are indicated thereby. By this one not
only docs not mean wedlock, but rather tends to exclude it.
The native whose Neptune is in the fifth house will probably
be very curious in the matter of love. He will fall in love wi th
82. A famous case of the time. Some (including Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle) believed him innocent.
83. E.dward Maric Vaillant (l840.1915). bomb-throwing anarchist.
he will be cabling hystericaJly for funds in the afternoon.
and a belief in all kinds of wild systcms. He \vill wear his
pockets out with mascots and irritate every hunchback in the
neighbourhood
by
his
assiduity.84
Another danger with
which he has to contend is that of actual chealing on the part
of those with whom he gambles.
84. To touch the hump of a hunch-hack is supposed to bring good
luck.
1 00
N(>PllIIIC
. f /euler Cro w!t·y
NC'Pl UlIl' iti 1he Sixth /louse
In the first instance the sixth house refers to the servants of
the native.
In this category. onc must include all people
whose function is to serve, even if their social statuS and
power arc much greater than that of the native. For example,
101
firmness - h e will be slack and capricious. The most import­
ant quaJity in a master is that the servant should know
exacLly what to expect. lie should be patient, kind,
courteous and yet inexorable. lie should be to the servant
if we were to consider the case of a poor man employing a
what the laws of nature arc to humanity, and it is exactly in
thesc points that any person who has Neptune in the sixth
wealthy lawyer and a prominent physician, the character of
house will fail.
the lawyer would be determined by the sixth house in so rar
as his relations ,\lith his client are concerned.
The health
of the native, although to some extent in·
dicated by the Ascendant and the position and aspects of the
As the first virtlle of servants is steadiness, reliability and
Sun, or the Moon in the case of a woman, depends principal­
freedom from any form of independence, self-will or initia­
ly upon the sixth house. Persons born with Neptune in this
connection. The servants of the native arc likely to behave in
position will probably suffer from many obscure maladies of
the nerves. In fact, insidious and wasting diseases of all sorts
tive, it will follow that Neptune is vcry unfortunate in this
a very erratic way. They may rob and cheat the master,
arc often associated wi th litis configuration. There is likely to
though this will take, in aU probability a petty and sporadic
be a general weakness and irritability in the constitution,
form, but they are certain to be unpunctual, disobedient,
which may manifest itself in hysteria and similar com laints.
forgetful, careless and altogether unsatisfactory. It will be
difficult to keep a servant in he
t
house for any length of
time.
In reg-dTd to servanlS in the larger sense of the word
indicated above, the native is likely to find similar troubles.
He may consult a doctor and discover later that the man is a
quack or is suffering from some subtle form of insanity. If he
consults a lawyer, he will probably get bad advice, be induced
to enter into some litigation, in which he has no chance of
success and find a large bill of costs run up against him into
the bargain. Similar troubles will occur in every event of life
where he is paying another person for service of whatever
kind. It does not, however, apply to commercial transactions.
If the native is an employer of labour, whether on a large or a
small scale, he will meet with every kind of obstacle. His
workmen will strike and he will be involved in all sorts of
p
Painful and intractable, though not dangerous, disorders such
as eczema and psoriasis may prove a continual torment. It is
very important that the native should not fall into the habit
of dosing himself. Of course, quack remedies arc principally
to be avoided, but there is some danger aJso that he may
acquire a superficial and inaccurate knowledge of medicine.
Medical books may fall into his hands and he may read them
with avidity,
understanding
owing to his lack of a
them, however,
imperfectly,
thorough training. He may then
become his own physician; a good many of his ailments will
be imaginary, but whether this is so or not he will try all sorts
of medicaments. In his case this will be exceptionally danger.
ous, for anyone with Neptune in the sixth house is peculiarly
susceptible to poisoning. Bromism, iodism, plumbism may
follow the abuse. He may also acquire suth a habit as that of
arsenic eating. One must not, howe,'er, include narcotism; for
disputes. He may have to pay compensation for accidents and
if he acquire any of the ordinary drug habits, such as the
that, often, unjustly.
abuses or morphia, cocaine, heroin, veronal, hashish and the
From what has been said, it might appear that these
misfortunes are due to the character of the persons who
serve. But it would not be right to draw sllch a conclusion.
like, he will do so not because of any idiosyncrasy - not with
the
idea
of
gaining
new
experiences
and
extravagant
pleasures - but -because he hopes thereby to obtain relief from
Every question has two sides to it, and in this case, there is
the ill-health, real or imaginary, from which he is suffering.
with servants will not be wise. It is certain that he will lack
domestic pets. The native is likely to have rather curious
no doubt that the master is equally LO blame. His methods
The sixth house also refers to small animals, especially
A {elsler Crowley
1 02
fancies in these malleTS. Instead o f being contented with a
dog, he wi ll have a monkey. An ordinary parrol will not
satisfy him - he wi ll require some very particular species,
difficult to obtain and of no usc when obtained. If he should
attempt to breed small animals for profit, he must not expect
NlptUIIC
arc not first class.
hOllse indicates that the native will take long journeys, he will
mild
if Neptune should be well aspected. this life may be suited to
him and prove, on the whole, successful; but even in such a
faddist and
will not last long. He will go from one to another in a way
which is the despair of those friends who may wish to
entertain him.
become a collector of rare species of animals and plants, and
food
experiment seriously with all kinds of ridiculous diets. lie
may be very fanatical about these, while they last, but they
any great success. Sickness will probably decimate his farm at
the most unexpected moment. Sometimes when the ninth
He may become a
1 03
With regard to clothes, he will be equally a nuisance. In
cases,
this may amount merely to eccentricity, just
sufficient to make the ordinary man a little doubtful of
whether i t is desirable to be seen in the street with him. But
once
more,
if the mind is
weak, he may have settled
case, he must expect plenty of strange adventures. Another
convictions that it is dangerous to wear wool or a hat or
ambassadors.
Cases have been known in which this position of Neptune
matter traditionally referred to the sixth house, is that of
By
this we should understand negotiations
involving personal interviews. Once again Neptune proves far
boots. He may thus constitute himself a public nuisance.
combined
with
those
configurations which
show
moral
from fortunate. There will be a trickiness and uncertainty in
degeneracy has led it to manifest as exhibitionism.
find subsequently that it has not been understood or that
the sixth house is speculation, in a restricted sense of the
all sllch affairs. The native will come to an agreement and
some hidden Oaw vitiates it. There will be a general atmos·
The last of the important subjects which arc covered by
word. We have already spoken of speculation under the fifth
phere o f misunderstanding in the best case, and, in the worst,
house, but the natural position of the sixth house is Virgo
one or both persons concerned in the interview. If follows
from this that unless there arc afflictions of Mercury in the
earth, especially the fertile earth. Virgo is ruled by fI.-1crcury
and Mercury is also exalted in Virgo. For this reason, the
tions by means of writing.
mercurial. It is sheer, cold drdwn gambling, where no sporting
there will be a deliberate attempt to deceive, on the part of
horoscope, it will be better to conduct all important negotia­
and Virgo is the sign which deals more particularly with the
type of speculation covered by the sixth house is entirely
Another matter which is decided by the sixth house is
clement is implied, and such speculation is likely to choose
as food and clothing arc decided thereby. The native will
particularly wool, cotton and other materials of clothing. The
intimate daily life of a rather trivial order and such questions
for its field the food of the people, and similar commodities,
prefer curious and unusual foods; a plain beefsteak wi ll be
gambler should conceive vast combinations, but they will all
which is neither nourishing nor digestible. At times he will
to unexpected circumstances beyond his control.
abhorrent to him, and he will decide to dine upon food
find it difficult to make up his mind as to what to cat. The
whim of the moment will be his only rule. His appetite is
thoroughly morbid; he is likely also to eat at unusual times.
turn Out unfortunately, owing either to his own wildness or
Neptune in the Seve"th /louse
The seventh house governs lhe marriage of the native. The
He will get up in the middle of the night and feed upon
presence of Neptune in this house is, on the whole, not to be
have already suggested that he may be suffering is hardly
possess most of the qualifications of a person born with
liable to attacks of ptomaine poisoning, and even greater
misfortunes may befall him in case his mental qualifications
wholly bad, yet the average person does not select for a
tinned salmon, jam and beer. The indigestion from which we
likely to be helped by such irrational habits. He is especially
desired. In the first place, the panner selected is likely to
Neptune
rising,
and while these cannol
be described as
lifelong partner anyone so doubtful. What is really sought in
104
.J /eisler Crowley
Neplllllt'
wedlock is the negation of adventure. Wedlock is the spectre
at the banquet of romance; matrimony is the tOr.1b of lo\'c,
and therefore what is most favourable for pleasure is most
fatal in those affairs in which settlement is the object aimed
at.
The altitude of the native himself to marriage will also
partake of the Neptunian taint. He will probably contract
some rash alliance on whimsical grounds, or through some
extraordinary accident. Permanent relations should always be
based upon considerations well thought out and approved by
the reason and judgment, not only of the contracting parties
but of those who have their interests at heart. Any such
relation which may be clHercd into by a person wi th Neptune
i n the seventh housc is likely LO provc eventful. �Iany small
things of a disturbing character will occur, and the general
atmosphere of the house will probably be that of disquiet. It
is probable that the matrimonial adventure will end in open
quarrel, but this quarrel is not likely to be a plain, single
issue. It is rather incompatibility of temper that is indicated
than anything more definite. Infidelity to the marriage vows
on the part of both the husband and wi fe seems assured, but
such incidents will only be trivial factors in the general
discontent. The whole attitude of the parties toward the
marriage state wi ll be extremely unusual. There may be all
kinds of fantastic theories of the relation, based not upon the
sober experience of humanity, but upon idealism, which have
little to recommend them beyond the enthusiasm and the
bOlla fides of their advocates. It is no doubt unfortunate that
human nature is not wholly divine, that that which ought to
be so often is not, that we are imperfect beings living in an
imperfect environment, that practical considerations continu­
ally intcrferc with our ideas of what is right. But such is the
situation, and it is the first thesis of all biology that the
happicst and most prosperous individual is the one who
accommodates himself most cleverly to his environment. The
Neptunian
is,
therefore,
handicapped
in
a
world where
105
Unless the financial position of the native is assured in
other ways, he must expect tribulations of this kind from the
outset. Even if he be well off previous to marriage, he will, in
all probability, suffer hardships subsequent to and in con­
sequence of matrimony for nothing is more certain than the
fact that he canoot take marriage seriously. He does not
conceive of i t as an affair of settlement, of inheritance, of
domesticity. It appears to him as a mere romantic adventure.
He surrounds it with glamour; it is but a figure in a cotillon,
and when the practical questions of increased rent and bills
for food and medical attendance and such things arise, he will
be disgruntled thereby. The dawn has come, the dancers
remove masks and dominoes; and as they step from the garish
lights of the ballroom on to the dewy grass, they feel the chill
of the morning air. It is probable that a person in this.
position will be thoroughly discontented with his marriage,
and cast about him for ways and means to break the link. He
will embark on a series of rather futile intrigues which he
does not prosecute with energy or ability, and which usually
go wrong. Very likely he will slip from one marriage into
another with the same results. He is not at all fitted to
undertake so serious a responsibility. He has not the neces·
sary heroism, the fixity of purpose, the patience and the
long·suffering required to make marriage a success.
These remarks do not apply at all to the love·affairs of the
nalive, which are judged by the fifth house. It is only when
the intention is a pennanent settlement and partnership
under legal and conventional guarantee, that the seventh
house is implicated.
The seventh house implicates the business partner and all
public contracts and arrangements, including lawsuits. All
these affairs are likely to be as unfortunate as marriage itself
for the same reason. The thought behind all such matters is
that Neptune, shedding as it docs the rays of a spiritual plane,
is peculiarly unsuited to any thing definite or binding. His
influence is to upset the physical world by bringing into i t
grosser planets hold the greatest sway, and while in his own
ideas of a higher and finer order, and if this be considered
expect to meet with continual obstacles which will bring him
from the lower standpoint, the result can only be described
as disastrous. In business, the partner is likely to be of the
curious realm of dream-delight he may be king, he must
down to earth, often wi th an unpleasant crash.
Neptunian temperament. Perhaps easy enough to get on with
106
/lleistl'r Crowley
107
in a general way, but unpractical and arbitrary, unaccount­
able, fitful, eccentric and unbusincsslike, as rcgard� the affairs
of the firm. Such a partnership is likely to terminate in
exactly the same way, mUlatis mu tandis, as we have already
indicated will be the case in marriage. There will be a subtle
feeling that everything is going wrong; and yet it may be
difficult to put one's finger on the sore spot. There is some
indication too, that the partner may ruin the business by
wastefulness and caprice. There will probably be a great deal
of trouble over accounts, and profits arc likely to disappear
in a very extraordinary manner, which may seem suspicious.
In the matter of lawsuits, too, similar considerations apply.
The native will probably be involved in many such, and they
will be of a dragging, tedious character. lIe will neither win
nor lose outright. The thing will go on interminably like
Jarndycc v. Jarndycc8 S and nobody will be a penny the
better. In the same way it will be difficult to get any business
through of any kind. People will miss appointments. Con­
tracts will go to and fro for revision, and, very likely, after
months of arguments the whole thing will fall through. One
should be careful in doing business with anyone who has
Neptune in this position.
The seventh house also indicates the open enemies of the
native;
and,
in
this respect,
the
indications arc not so
unfavourable. For these enemies themselves will be vacillating
and without energy to prosecute their assaults. A great deal
of trouble may arise, but it will be of a somewhat petty
character. The attacks upon the native will be futile, fatuous
Neptu.lle ill the f.'(f5h lh House
111e eighth house refers to the subject of death. The presence
of Neptune in this house is very peculiar in its indication. In
the first place, the consciousness of the native may be on the
borderland between life and death. He may be liable to fall
into trances, letllargies, catalepsies, and the like. It would be
wise for him for to have standing instructions as to what to
do in case of his apparent death as othenvise he may nm
some risk of being buried alive. Not only should he acquaint
his
friends and relatives with the circumstances, but he
should carry a paper on his person which could easily be read
by any stranger who discovered him with all appearance of
death.
In any case, the manner of his death is likely to be very
singular. If the cusp of the sixth house be occupied by a
watery sign and its ruler be afflicted, he will drown_ If a fiery
sign, he may be burned to death or die in consequence of a
fire. In an airy sign, he might die from mental shock, and in
an earthy sign, it is possible that he might be killed in a
mining disaster or through the fall of a building.
It is not, however, necessary to draw such conclusions
except in extreme cases. There is also to be considered a
more normal means of exit from life. Possibly some long
wasting disease, some obscure malady of the nerves or of the
cerebral-spinal fluid, may be the cause of death. The actual
circumstances
surrounding
the death
may also be very
strange. In some cases, it may come very suddenly, a chronic
illness of many years' standing might develop some fulminat­
and carry in themselves their own condemnation. However,
ing form. Most probably of all, the native may not know that
from time to time they may be exceedingly annoying; but in
he is ill, or if he docs so, he may find that the doctors
the long run, not much harm will be done. The only liability
to long-continued and bitter enmity would be in case of a
prove inexplicable, even on a post mortem examination and
transit of Uranus or S2.turn over the planet's place.
In conclusion, one may remark that this and the fourth
house are, on the whole, the worst positions for Neptune.
Generally speaking, he should not be low in the heavens; the
higher he is placed, the more kindly is his influence, as will be
seen when we come to treat of the tenth house or medium coeh
entirely fail to diagnose his disorder. The death itself may
be ascribed to 'the failure of the heart's action'. There is also
a possibility that death may be caused by poison.
The vin\fS of the native with regard to death are likely to
be very original. He may hold some fantastic theory on this
subject. His mind will tend to dwell habitually upon it. He
may regard it with extraordinary aversion, or, on the other
hand, it may possess a morbid fascination for him. He may b e
85.
Cf. Charks Dkkens,
R(e(J.k House.
addicted t o some form o f necromancy a s spiritualism, and
1 08
109
N('ptll 1ll'
.Ilt'l.�tcr Crowley
the subjc('( will rarely be absent from the 'back of his mind'.
People born with this position of Neptune should be
persons who will know where to find it at his death. Nor
should he be lax in the choice of proper executors.
exceedingly careful not La dose themselves with any drug
which has a direct action upon the consciollsn<:ss. They hold
to life by (00 delicate a thread.
A friend of the author's was waiking in lhe forest of
Neptulle ill the Nillth lIous£'
The ninth house refers to science and religion. This hOllse
being exalted in the heavens, Neptune has a more proper
Fontainebleau with a pupil, and was explaining to him how
innucnce than in houses not placed so highly. Unless badly
not threaten to shoot YOll, if you disobey,' he said. 'I do not
bcnefic. The native will havc an extraordinarily pure and
perfect freedom was compatible wi th perfect obedience. 'I do
lake yOll by the throat and strangle you.' To emphasise his
remark he put his hand to a thick woollen scarf which the
other was wearing,
not
however exercising <tny marked
pressure. However the man lost consciousness and was only
restored to life by prompt measures. He has Neptune in the
eighth house.
The condition called status lymphalicus
8 6 is sometimes
associated with this position.
The eiglHh house refers also to the goods of the dead. The
native may probably benefit through legacies, but he will do
well to beware of trickery on the part of the exeCLllors, and
he must be prepared for all sorts of small disappointments
and delays in connection with this matter. These remarks do
not apply to questions of direct inheritance, such as may be
expected in the normal course of events, as from the father.
The goods o f the partner in business or lire are also
indicated by the eighth house. Here again, the native must
expect
a
certain
vagueness, and
possibly deception and
disappointment. lie will be very foolish to marry for money,
for if he did sO, Ill' \\Ould almost certainly fail to obtain it,
either through some chicanery or through the property being
lost wholly or in part shordy after marriage. Similarly, on
entering into a business partnership, the capital of lhe partner
should be regarded as a very doubtful element.
The native must also be very careful in regard to making
his own will. lIe should see to it that no loophole is left for
any disputes subsequent to his death, and he should also take
the greatest care that his will is safely in the hands of reliable
86. A condition of 1he body characterised by
to obesity.
excess of water leading
afnicted, therefore, it may be considered as almost entirely
lofty conception of God and nature. Ilis aspirations wiil be
strong, so strong that they may carry him away completely
from this earth, and induce him to devote the whole of his
life to the most arduous and subtle researches into the glories
by which he is surrounded. It may be, to some extent, a
defect that he misses the sense of actuality; the enthusiasm
which fills him may lead him to think far in advance of his
period; he may fail entirely to realise that the human race, as
a whole, is not in line with him. A striking instance of this is
the poet Shelley, who had this position. His ideal of the
human race not only has not been realised, but is generally
recognised as being unrealisable. For this reason he is pre·
eminently the poet of the adolescent, in whose beautiful
virginal mind, the whole world appears tinctured with the
light of the divine creative force. with which the recent
development of sex has endowed it.
iA beautiful and ineffectual angel, beating in the void his
luminous wings in vain' is a perfect description not only of
Shelley,
but
of almost
all persons in whose horoscope
Neptune in the ninth house is the dominant innuence.
Of course, in affliction these indications may take an
undesirable tum. The detachment from the facts of life may
lead to superstition, psych ism, faddism, crankiness and all
such abominations.
The intuition will probably be very highly developed - it
may
be
almost
uncanny.
At the same time
it may be
untrustworthy in this way - that the intellectual stability of
the native may not be adequate to enable him to discriminate
between the true intuition which arises spontaneously and
unbidden, and the false intuition which is false or invoked
and which nearly always deceives.
I 10
. l Il'ister Crowley
The innucllcc of Neptune may also show itself in dreams
of a semi-sacred or mystical character. The nativ<! may have
strange presentiments and queer ideas. It is to be hoped that
he will not allow these to lead him away from the realm of
commonsense; he may be tempted to act too readily upon
belief, and visions, and he may become the prey of malicious
and interfering entities who may drag him to his destruction.
In a well-behaved horoscope, this position is admirable for
mystical and spiritual progress. There is no height to which
the nati\c may not expect to attain. �or will it be necessary
to force his inclinations. He is a natural seer; and, by the
operation of good judgment, he may make the most extra­
r
III
brothers and sisters and mentality, in the third house.
Neptune in the Tenth !louse
The tenth house, or medium coeli, refers primarily to the
business career or occupation of the native, and whether
Neptune in this position will be propitious or not depends
very greatly
upon
the nature thereof. This will depend
naturally upon the sign which rules the cusp of the tenth
house, and its planet. In the ordinary affairs of life, Neptune
is likely to bring about a great deal of embarrassment for
reasons like those indicated in regard to previous matters of a
similar kind. The career may be very strange and eventful,
ordinary spiritual progress.
but it is not likely to be smooth or free from interruption.
He wil l have a pure understanding of the truths which lie
hitherto been said, causes the native to suffer lapses. The
properly, he should not merely make his mark on humanity,
steady flow of energy. It comes and goes without much
progress in a notable degree. His danger will be that he is so
to his business. He will carry them out with great vigour, but
In the domain of science, the native is nearly as fortunate.
hidden in nature; and if he has the ability to work them out
but add substantially to the world's knowledge, and assist its
Neptune, and this remark applies to almost all that has
inspiration which he implies is said to be distinguished from a
apparent cause. The native may have brilliant ideas in regard
sure of these truths that he will fail to understand the
only for a time. Then he will forget all about it, only to begin
gence of common people, of proving to the world at large, by
cation, the effect is on the whole, unfortunate. There is also
truth.
business itself. This is likely to be of a queer and unusual
necessity of brinbring them down to the level of the intelli­
arduous investigation, what he knows intuitively to be the
The ninth house also refcrs to long journeys, particularly
those which involve a sea voyage. Here the innuencc of
Neptune is by no means so favourablc_ Strange adventures are
certain to occur, many of these of a trivial yet annoying type.
There is a decided danger of accidents - it will be remem­
bered that Shelley himself was drowned, while upon just such
a voyage.
It
is also possible that long journeys may be
disappointing for another reason - the native may be in­
duced to make a journey on false pretences, and when he
arrives at the end of the passage he may discover that it had
again later on. As business depends so largely upon appli­
to be considered a good deal of risk from the nature of the
character, and there will be many loopholes for fraud ; also it
is to be presumed that it may be a little difficult at times to
keep track of the business. Profits will be irregular and
uncertain. There will be a numbcr of bad debts; and the
business may also suffer from the occurence of apparently
trivial circumstances, totally unconnected with it. There does
not seem to be much risk of a definite smash. The indications
arc rather those of vicissitudes. The native may feel inclined,
again and again, to give it up for something steadier but he
been undertaken in vain.
will find it hard to relinquish it.
The teMh house further refers to the mother in a man's
life, and to the mental equipment of the partner in business.
person of the Neptunian type. The eccentricity may take any
The ninth house refers also to the family of the partner in
The outlook on these points is not particularly favourable.
One need not enter in any detail into these matters - it will
be sufficient if the student refers to what was said about
horoscope and fatller in a woman's, who is indicated as a
of the forms previously described as characteristically
Neptunian, hut there is probably a special tendency to
religious fanaticism of an ascetic type. It is very rare for the
1
Neptune
.,Heisler Crowley
112
native to remain on good terms with his mother; there may
be a great deal of natural affection, but it will be partially
inhibited by the incompatibility of temper which is shewn.
The tenth house, moreover, describes the fame or repu­
tation of the native, and this is, of CQurse, in the horoscope
of important people, the chief point to consider. Fame, too,
being not altogether of the earth, is a particularly Neptunian
matter. When this planet is free from interference by others
highly placed the fame should be starry and world wide. At
the same time it is likely to be of a somewhat extraordinary
character. Jupiter in [he tenth hOLise gives fame, but in
matters more generally recognised, morc in touch with the
common life of mankind. There may be certain sinister
clements conneCled with it. The name of the native may be
involved in strange legends. He will appear to men under a
thousand masks; and even time itself may fail altogether to
113
were thousands of astrologers fairly celebratcd in their day;
but history has picked out the name of Nostradamus wi thout
any adequate reason. lIe was no more distinguished than any
of the others, but for some reason legends gathered about his
personality, and he passed through history as his rivals passed
into oblivion. Another case of quite undeserved reputation is
that of hlary Queen of Scots. This lady was, after all, a very
ordinary queen - her morals were no better and no worse
than those
of any other queen - her fate was shared by
dozens of monarchs, and though, no doubt, she was beauti·
ful, there is no reason to suppose that she was mllch more
beautiful than twenty others of the rulers of her period. And
she has won a fame almost as equal to that of Helen of Troy.
She has inspired poets, not only in her own country, but all
over the world. She was the darling of Goethe's imaginatioil.;
Swinburne devoted twenty years of his life to studying her
unveil him. We need only instance the cases of Shakespeare
life, and he made it the central figure of an entire period of
sense of the word. Humanity, much as it may admire them,
Kaiser. 8 8 (There is no doubt that however the war may end,
and �'fichael Angelo. Both of these men were big in the best
his work To take yet one more example, we have the
may fail fully to recognise the grandeur and universality of
he will stand out as the one figure of heroic stature in
difficult to add a third name to these two, even by going
also his character has been totally misunderstood by his
their
genius,
unless they,
too, be under Neptune. It is
back to the Greeks. Goethe had Neptune in the ninth house
ncar the cusp of the tenth. Their comprehension of human
nature was so vast that they stand unrivalled. Many other
artists have excelled them in execution, in aim, but there are
no others who have attempted work of anything like the
same importance and also attained the same general level of
excellence. (It is further to be noticed that there is something
a little unfair in the way in which their fame has developed.
They were entitled to it and they obtained it, but they
seemed to have obtained it under false pretences. They were
originally praised for quite the wrong reasons.)
Another
example is that of Nostradamus;8 7 in the Middle Ages, there
87.
Learned physician and astrologer who, in an extensive letter to
II of france, dated 27 June 1558. foretold the great historical
of the next five hundred years, including the french Revolution
and the rise of Hitler. It was published in the Amsterdam edition of
1667 as Vrayes Centuries el Propheties de lIIaistre Michel Nostredame.
'Then in the beginning of that year ye shall see a greater persecution
Henry
events
modern Europe.8 9 It may again be remarked that in his casc
contemporaries.) A final example is Sir Humphrey Davy,9o
who was a very great chemist, but not more so than fifty
others - yet the name of Davy has become more popularly
known than that of almost any other chemist. Even his
greater pupil, Faraday, is always connected in the mind with
Davy.
In lesser cases, the fame indicated will partake on a smaller
scale of the same characteristics. A person with Neptune in
the tenth hOllse will constantly make talk in his circle. He
Islam aroseI
and it shall be in the year 1 7 9 2 at which time everyone will think it a
renovation of the age . . .' See C.G.Jung, Aiort, 1959.
88. See note 50.
89. 'Ibis sentence was written in the beginning of 1 9 1 8 . Crowley was
n
i America at the time. He had either not interpreted the Kaiser's
horoscope correctly or he was mistaken on political grounds.
90. The famous chemist and fellow of the Royal Society who
n
i vented ill 1 8 1 5 the miners' safety lamp. He was born in 1778 and
died in 1829.
against the Christian Church than ever was in Africa [where
1 14
•
,Veprwu·
J (eisler Crowley
w-ill be somewhat of a mystery. lie will be misinterpreted -
perhaps, even in a very sinister sense; yet in spile of this or
because of it, his name will become widely and more widely
known. People will invent stories about him - good, bad and
indifferent
inaccurate.
but all strange and either baseless or totally
favourable. Where the general character of the native is such
he
is
fascination for them, and Lhey will no doubt be very clever in
keeping out of trouble, but if they were to take any chances
at a time when the house was afnicted b)' direction or transit,
they might find themselves in serious trouble.
Neptlllie ill the ElevNlth /louse
In matters of ordinary reputation, Neptune is still less
thal
115
not
capablc
of attracting general
attention,
Neptune will stand for petty scandals - everything the native
The eleventh house refers to the friends of the native, and the
society in which he will move, generally speaking Neptune in
this position will calise him to attract, taking it by long and
by large, Neptunian persons. I-Ie is likely to associate with
does will seem peculiar. The merest trifles will be passed
actors, artists, and among women neurotic persons and those
the reader has sudden attacks of self-consciousness in a room
will be very capricious in his dealings_ He will probably take
round as dainty bits of gossip - no malice is implied. Perhaps
of ill repute. lie will not he very tenacious in friendship - he
place, anywhere where people are, he may
an extraordinary fancy to a person and cultivate him violent­
everybody is looking at him. Although there is nothing to
without any quarrel or other definite reasons. It seems as if
peculiar in his appearance, yet people turn in the streets to
will be somewhat unfortunate, too, in his acquaintances, for
in
a
public
discover to his great embarrassment that for no reason at all,
cause it, he is the focus of attention. There is nothing
look at him. It may be \'ery painful to him to attract notice
in this way - he may pay infinite attention to his appear­
ance, endeavouring to make it conventional and yet he may
fail.
ly for a little while and then leave him just as suddenly,
there were no deep root i n affections of this character. He
it is really rather absurd to speak of them as friends. They
will treat him as cavalierly as he does them. It is not unlikely
that these relations will result in a vcry great degree of
unhappiness, for as a general rule, the emotions are not
It may also occur that the native changes his name or
sufficiently deep-seated. There are, however, cases in which
probably suit the circumstances very well an d success is t o be
who had this position, was left to stanre by all those who had
perhaps does business under an assumed name. This wil l
expected.
The tenth house also indicates the employer, superior or
master of the native. In spiritual matters, this position is the
most favourable that is possible. He should find a teacher of
definite misfortune may result. For example, Nell Gwynn,
courted her in the days of her prosperity.
The clement of treachery is, however, decidedly marked.
One may instance Napoleon - who was betrayed by his own
Marshal.9
t
His fall was certain, owing to the presence of
the highest order, and if he follows out the instructions
Saturn in the tenth house, but it is Neptune in the eleventh
assured. He should reach the greatest heights that are possible
to humanity. But where the career is more conventional,
position must be taken so seriollsly. In the average case it
described, his spiritUal advancement should be rapid and
Neptune is not very good. The employer may be tricky,
undependable and difficuh to deal with, because of his being
elusive. He will not be steady-going and matter-of-fact. The
relations with him will be continual fennent. People with
Neptune in the tenth house should be very careful not to
take any chances with the law or the government of the
country.
To do so will have, perhaps, a quite uncanny
that indicates the manner of that fall. It is but rarely that this
means little more than the trivial troubles describcd above,
but wherever the horoscope indicates greatness, every aspect
and position therein is emphasised, and becomes significant
of far more important events than if lhe nativity as a whole is
91. Napoleon was betrayed by most of his Marshals. Crowley is
thinking of Marshal Marmon!, Duke or Ragusa, who is pilloried as the
figure or treachery in ROSland's play, L 'AigiQr!_
116
.
J /cisl er
Nt'ptwlt'
Crowlt'y
117
weak. In the case of a person like Napoleon, practically every
native, and to the intrigues which may be aimed at him. lIere
the influence is rather favourable, for the enemies are not
position. In the
of lesser men, there is such a superficial·
persistent. but they may cause a great deal of annoyance
descend lO arrange {heir affairs, or perhaps it would be better
Another matter, wi th which the twelfth house deals is that
detail of the life is found accurately mapped by the planetary
C:L'iC
ity that the forces of nature seem hardly .to care to con­
before they evaporate.
to say that the material on which they operate is loo muddy
of secret associations, and here the innucnce of Neptune is as
The eleventh house refers also to the wishes and hopes o f
should be extremely successful, not only in carrying through
"
any . . .
to produce clean-cut effects.
the native. These may be fantastic and lack th e sense of
actuality. He may be always,
a
s
good as possible. A person wi th Neptune in this position
the phrase goes, 'wishing for
the moon', and he will not· be very stable and enduring. I-Ie
will take up a matter with enthusiasm and drop it without
regret. This, however, may be called day dreams. The main
moral purpose of his life may be perfectly firm and clear, but
it is certainly probable that a man who has Neptune thus
placed will want more than he is ever likely to get. Still as
Browning says:
Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp,
Or what's a Heaven for?
Neptlllle ;11 the TWelfth /louse
The twelfth house in the first place relates to prisons, by
which we mean to include any kind of restraint that is placed
upon the freewill of the native. With regard to the prob­
abilities of actual confinement, Neptune is not particularly
good or particularly bad. In some cases, i t might, perhaps,
mean that he was liable 10 continuous small distresses of this
kind, and if there were extremely bad aspects, a long and
wasting imprisonment might possibly be expected, but with
regard to what may be described as interior restraints, the
effect is extremely irritating, especially i f Neptune be well on
in the twelfth house, ncar the cusp of the first. In such an
instance, it might well be that the native was constantly
dominated 'by
his own whims. Its action might interfere
seriously with the general purpose of his life. The twelfth
house is itself a restraining influence, and it is possible that a
bad aspect from the ruler of the mind or of the will might
imply completely moral imbecility.
The twelfth house also refers to the secret enemies of the
92. There is a lacuna here in the original manuscript.
Uranus
I II
Uranus
1 19
It is in Pan rather than in his archetype that we recognise
the doubtful ray of Uranus. We must think of his pursuit of
Syrinx, of her mad night, and her transformation into a reed
on which the god might play. We must think of the Panic fear
which sometimes seizes man, and often multitudes. Then we
shall understand.
This planet is the planet of genius, the planet of the secret
magical power in man that lies (according to the Indian
Ouranos, Uranus or Heaven, is said to have been the father of
Saturn, who, jealous lest another son should appear, annihil·
ated him wi th his scythe. This legend is but an apologue of
the nature of this planet, often called 'Herschel' after the
man who rediscovered it. 9 3
This planet swims lonely in the awful abyss that separates
Saturn from Neptune. If we have compared Neplllne to the
outpost, we may continue by saying that Uranus is the moat
of the fortress, and its secret passages. And if we have called
Neptune the Soul of the Sea, then Uranus is the essence of
Volcanic Fire. There is no planet so strange, so sinister, so
mythology) coiled at the base of the spine like a snake,94
ready to strike up and illuminate the whole, or downward to
damnation.
Men, common men, are always stricken with the panic fear
when genius blazes on them. Always uley mistake it for
madness until it justifies itself by its effects. And often
indeed this never takes place. Unless genius be buttressed by
a thousand virtues, it is tmly madness. But why is this?
Because genius is easily thwarted; it even tends to thwart
itself. It is so absolute (by the purity of its truth and logic)
that in a relative world, a world of compromises, there seems
occult and mysterious or so contradictory.
no place for it. Genius may break; it will not bend. So it
.
rushes forth, hits its mark standing, is diverted from that hIgh
bereft of fatherhood by the jealousy of Time. It is a god who
them to some dreadful goal.
cmelty, whose occupation but dark intrigue. It is intellect
genius, just as truly as Michael Angelo and Isaac Newton. All
For this is in the story of Uranus, lhe principle of heaven
is no longer love, a god whose pleasure has become only
divorced from benevolence; it is the madness of a noble
mind. The proper purpose is baffled, and the will turns to
aim into desperate courses. It enters the dark paths, pursues
Gilles de Rais,9� de Sade, Caesar Borgia96 were men of
genius desires the infinite, and the infinite is one, not man� .
.
Only the mediate steps are diverse. DarwlIl regretted
�I S
perversion.
limitations as bitterly as did Alexander; and the love of Chnst
upon earth under the name of Pan. And this Pan, suffering by
sympathy, is not only the first god of music and science, but
the Satyr god. He protects the husbandman, but also he
were each not thwarted by that world's inertia.
But like all gods, Uranus in his happier days was incarnated
delights in things abominable. He is cynical in the old sense
of the word, and his comedy is hideous tragedy. Thus, while
his brows arc noble, they are horned, and from his thighs he
is a goal.
93. The planet Uranus was discovered by William Herschcl. the
private astronomer of George III, in t 7 S I . Crowley is hinting at an
ancient awarenes.s or the planet's existence but he gh'cs no details.
equally with the malice of Satan would destroy the world
The essence of genius is this occult, but ovennastering lust
of achievement in practical and material shape. If Neptune
makes the saint or hermit, Uranus makes the magician, the
man who calls forth from the unseen, not only its peace but
its power. The dream of the Uranian is universal dominion by
94. Kundalini or the Fire Snake: of the Hindu and Tantric tradition.
95. See note 74.
96. Caesar Borgia (1476·1507), fourth son of Pope /\1exander VI.
Every spedc:s of crime has been aseribed to him, but among his subjeeLS
he was regarded as virtuous and just.
. 1 /(,ISteT CTOW/t!y
120
Uranus
and for his Idea. This Idea may obsess him, blind him to all
else, ruin him by narrowness. lie rarely undcnlands that
Being mllst take form before it can be perceived, and he
misses his opportunities. He docs nol known how many veils
must be thrown over the splendour of his Virgin hefore men
can bear to gaze upon hcr without going mad.
All genius is equally 'good', but unless it be accompanied
with utmost breadth of sanity, with moral strength as of a
god. and above all wiLh humour, it thickens, it fcnnents, it
turns to deadly poison.
He that began by wishing to save men continues by secret
murder. The man perhaps sees chastity as the salvation of the
race, and instead of living and lctting his light shine before
men, becomes mad and assassinates some man whose innu­
ence he deplores. It is characteristic of the infatuation with
an
idea that all sense of proportion is lost. Even so a
diplomatist plunges his country into war at the cost of
millions, both of men and money, in order to gain an
advantage of negligible worth; one remembers the comments
121
head that I might top it a t a blow'.9 8 The anarch ist throws
his bomb in the spirit of phiJanlhropy. Unless a1l this is fully
understood, it is useless to try to judge mankind for every
man has this Uranus in him, strong or weak, subtle or gross,
fOT(unate or unfortunate, and this is the Royal Snake of
Egypt,99 the giver of life and death. If you will not allow
him to create, he wi ll devour. And your own snake has his
own ambition; busy yourself with that and do not waste time
on criticising others.
The most important thing in the life of any man is to
discovcr the secret purpose of his incarnation and to follow it
with wariness as well as with passion. Astrology has no more
useful function than this, to discover the inmost nature of a
man and to bring it out into his consciousness, that he may
fulfil it according to the law of light.
The Uranus in us is the Sacred Lance of the Legend; in the
hands of the Holy King it built the Temple of the Grail; in
those of Klingsor,t 0 0
the Garden of Evil Enchantments.
Gcnius may be fertile or sterile, radiant or self·consuming;
of Hamlet on the expedition o f Fortinbras.9 7 So abo Uranus
the one is White t..'lagic and the other Black. But the force is
the whole nature of a man. From religious fanaticism to
ance to direct it aright. The purity of a strong noble Neptune
is the particular planet of al1 secret vices that tend to usurp
indulgence in dangerous dmgs the gamut runs; and because of
the same, and being thus double it is of the utmost import­
is the greatest safeguard to this force ; and the Sign of the
the obsession of the one idea, the defiance or neglect of
Cross in its fullest, holiest, most Pagan and most Christian
infamy as OUT bias detemlines. There is no good or evil
must itself be redeemed.
circumstance attending it, we find what we call fame or
sense is its warrant. For it is not only the Redeemer, but it
absolute; to one man Caesar is a hero, to another a fiend; the
Puritans
pictures
destroyed
and
cathedrals;
others
even
today
hate
statues. One critic thought Shelley a devil
specially incarnated to plague mankind, another calls him a
beautiful hut ineffectual angel.
Any genius thwarted, ' as Uranus was thwarted, i n the
beneficient
purpose
of
his
life, turns either to horrible
self.indulgences, or to revenge. 'Muuditc
race!'
exclaims the
starving man of genius, whose great heart only willed to burn
itself OUl on the altar of art that he might bring men Truth
and Beauty from the gods. 'I wish that mankind had but one
97. Kmg of Norway, whom Hamlet tht Dane slew in the war
between their countries. Stt Hamiet, 1.1.
Ural/us in the Zodiacal Signs
We have already explained concerning Neptune that this
planet represents the souL But it is static; with regard to its
position in the Zodiac we see it in its relation to the Zeitgeist;
and thc quality of the individual soul must be detennined by
its mundane position lUld by its aspects. But this soul is
sensitive and passive; as we said above, static. If we wish to
see how this soul can heap itself up as it were and issue forth
98. CaJigula.
99. The Uratus Serpent crown worn on tht brow of the Pharaohs.
100. See note 24.
.Ileistl'r Crowley
'22
naming al will, we Illusl look to Uranus.
Now,
Ura/lUS
[23
or these signs, the AquMi,m mt"U"trll u m I O J bringing out his
this is the doctrine, that every living soul has a
emancipating and scientific qualities, since Aquarius is the
a million, perhaps. is conscious of that purpose. We seem for
sonification of earthquake and upheaval, since Taurus is the
career of an individual cannot be considered as necessarily an
qua1ities; and finally the baral/!rum I 0 4 of Scorpio manifes­
Now, Uranus indicates this will; and the reason why he is
power of poison, or as the eagle which. although it cries 'The
represents this real intention, which, lying deeper than his
best and worst of the signs quintessentialises Uranus more
purpose in incarnatioll; and that purpose is single. Not one in
the most part to be a mass of vacillations. Even the main
expression of the interior will.
so explosive and violent and upsetting to men is that he
conscious purpose, often contradicts it. The outer and the
inner aTe in connict; and whenever battle is joined the inner
wins. To the ollter this must naturally appear as disaster; for
he does not recognise the force as part of himself, or if so he
regards it as a disturbing entity and loathes its dominion,
Uranus is the Royal Uraeus Scrpent l 0 I in Egyptian
man-Cherub; the Taurine exhibiting him as the fearful per­
Bull; the Leonine emphasising his rC\'olutionary and fighting
ting him as the Death-star, or as the treacherous and subtle
House of Death', makes whole the spirit. For Scorpio always
strongly than cver Leo or Aquarius, being indeed in some sort
flux of these.
Now, as has bccn seen, the deeply interior purpose of any
being is nearly always obscure and undecipherable but there
is an indication or hieroglyph of it which is usually very
significant. One
can hardly call it more than the artistic
Symbolism, slow yet sudden Lord of life and death. It takes a
expression of the purpose; and lhis appears a ve l)' good way
irresistable. This is why, to the normal mind, he appears so
the witl, but it sets limits to the sphere wherein the will may
great deal to move him; but when once in motion, he is
to describe it. We call it the Temperament. It docs not define
terrible, Occasionally too, this is no mere illusion; there are
work.
even to think. l\lost fortunately it is rarely necessary to do so.
of the Asccndant; and to this must now be added a consider·
certain forces represented by Uranus, of which it is beller not
In any case, this subject is too subtle, difficult and deadly to
discuss in gener.a[ terms; and it will be sufficient if the
student is referred to what we may call 'the literature of the
Abyss', using that tenn in the specia1 technica1 sense known
to initiates,' 0 2
From what we have said with regard to the character of
Uranus it will be seen that his force is peculiarly sympathetic
to the Cherubic Signs Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius. He
represents (to nash a vivid and illuminating, if not pedantic­
ally accurate thought) the spirit of the Cherubin, We shall see
I n the course of this paper how his action is modified in each
1 0 1 . See note 99.
102. A reference to Crowley's Liber 418 ('The Vil"ion and the
Voice') in which t he ordeal of the Abyss is described. The /\byss is the
gulf between the actual and the ideal, or in Qabalistic symbolism the
worlds of Uriah (the Creative World) and Atziloth (the Archetypal
World). Crowley's Order of the Silver Star taught the means of crossing
the Abyss.
Now we have already assigned the personality to the sign
ation of the sign in which Uranus may be situated. Where
these two factors are harmonious, we get a character with
unity or moral purpose; where otherwise, a self·tortured
waverer. It might be cited as an objection to this that those
with Uranus rising arc usually eccentric characters; but the
argument is on the other side. Such eccentricity is temper­
ament in its highest development; it shows the entire o\,er­
ruling of the superficial qualities by this deep-seated turbu·
lent magical will. It is only to othcrs that the person with
Uranus
rising appears so eccentric; to himself he seems
profoundly, lucidly, rational and if properly understood, he
is so. Herschel himself is perfectly in accordance with the
higher law; he is only a law breaker in the same sense as,
when the civil law is superseded by martial law in times of
103. Crowley uses the word 'mens/n,um' in the sense of a ·vehicle'
or ·transmitter'. The Astral Light is the menstruum of thought forms
and olher subtle impressions.
104. 't\ pit, gulf' Oxford English Die/ionary.
Urmuis
.l /eisteT Crowley
124
gra...e CrISIS, the officer who at another time dares not lift his
1 25
bending to his will by t11e force of his genius, he has earned
cane orders the firing of a murderous volley.
the thanks of humanity.
purely
name \vill go down to posterity with that of Cromwell as an
We arc now in a position to investigate the ,truth of these
a
/Jriori assertions by the study of the horoscopes of
famous persons.
Contrast this wi th the case of 'Bloody Balfour',' 0 1 whose
oppressor of the Irish people_ I fere Virgo is rising, with its
We shall class these under the signs in which Herschel is
lord J\lercury in square to Uranus_ lienee we find Balfour not
influence in the Zodiac from other considerations, and to this
and ferocity; the dominant characteristic in the whole con­
situated, as this is the purpose of this paper, to isolate his
end we must look always at the rising sign in order to scc
whether that influence modifies it and in what direction.
a strong, but only a violent man, alternating pusiUanimity
formation being the heartJessness and
often goes with the �Iercurial type_
(I
sexuality which so
Lord Rosebery,' 0 8 on the other hand, has Aries rising, or
ratJler 28 degrees of Pisces. At least Uranus occupied the
Uranus ill Aries
Uranus in Aries gives a character intrepid, dauntless, riery and
indomitable, whether for good or evil.
flaming, headstrong, hOl-tempered, impetuous, self-willed
and obstinate is the type; but sometimes the native will make
a sudden and complete volle-face, and purpose a new and
contradictory course with the same energy as he did the
Ascendant and so we find a fair uniformity of disposition.
But his career has been interrupted by his sudden laying
1
down of things and c ually sudden resumption of them.
Anna Kingsford' o
has Uranus in Aries, but it occupies
the eighth house. Here as in the case of Balfour, Virgo is
rising, but
its
Lord
Mercury
is
in
his
own house and
former. Nor, as a rule, will he be capable of seeing that he has
exaltation in conjunction with Venus, and the Ascendant is
structive in this type of energy. A strong example of this
junction. Here we find, then, a bITeat example of the driving
changed in any respect. There is nothing particularly con­
I
further dignified by the presence of Sol and Mars in con­
temperament is found in Annie Bcsant, 0 5 Aries the rising
force of these configurations, for Anna Kingsford, despite all
apparent; but here Capricornlls is rising, and almough J\lars is
force sufficient to transfigure the thought of half the world.
sign;
in
Pope
AJexander VII 0 6
me
same
qualities arc
mental and moral disqualifications, disposed of an initiating
exalted in Capricornus, and so not inharmonious with the
It is her work which made Theosophy and its analogous cults
with the most unfortunate results.
broke in the g-dtes of Victorianism and the materialistic
Aries temperament, yet a Saturnian element is super-added,
People wi th Uranus in Aries arc always so firmly convinced
that they are right that opposition to their wishes appears to
them as something positively Satanic, and they are therefore
entirely unscrupulous in crushing that opposition. Some­
times this masterful quality is confined to legitimate lines, as
in the case of Edison. Scorpio is rising, and its lord Mars is
softened by the conjunction of the Moon in the third house;
thus the powerful will implied works mostly on the mental
plane, where the enemy is only stubborn nature; and in
105. The: fiery labour leader who turned Theosophist after one
meuing with the dying Madame Blavatsky. She immediately became
the: head of the Theosophical Society. She died in 1933.
106. See note 227.
at all possible. She was the head of the battering-ram that
philosophy of the time.
The Earl of Strafford' ' 0 and Oliver Cromwell both had
107. Arthur James BalfoUJ' ( 1 848-1930), British Conservative Slales­
man, dilettante and philosopher, now remembered principally for his
'declaration favouring a national home: for Jews in Palestine'. 1 9 1 7 . He
earned the soubriquet 'Bloody Balfour' during his tenure of the trish
chief-secretaryship in the late 18805.
108. Archibald Philip Primrose. 5th Earl of Rosebery ( 1 847-1929),
British statesman, succeeded Gladstone as Prime Minister in 1894.
109. Dr Anna Kingsford, M.D., ( 1 846-1888) mystic, anti­
vivisectionist, vegetarian. author of The Perfect Wa)',' or the Finding of
Christ. and other works.
1 1 0. Thomas Wentworth. 1st Earl of Strafford (1593-1641).
statesman. His ruthkss methods in Ireland led to his impeachment and
ultimatcly his execution.
UraniH
11it.'isler Cro wley
126
Uranus in Aries, and it should be most instructive to compare
their
nativities.
1 27
will which enabled the writer to rank with the greatest
masters o f all time, there is but a soft and somewhat
Each had an iron \viU, an unscrupulous
indefinite personality, its will interior and not externalised,
determination to have his own way at any cost, but Strafford
has Virgo rising, like Balfour. He prepared a plan for dealing
owing to the forces that oppress it being too strong to
with Ireland called 'thorough' which was·to legalist massacre
overcome, and to the inhibitory influence which Neptune
even morc effectively than did the Coercion (Crimes) Act of
exercises on all continuous activity.
the Victorian statesman. But he was not strong enough to
carry it out. He hung fire. Cromwell, with Aries rising, simply
Uranus in '/'auru:;
went through Ireland like a new Attila. There is no passion in
This position is highly favourable for Uranus, for his great
Virgo to do any such act.
energy is set to honest constructive work. One can immedi­
ately
Robert Louis Stevenson has Aquarius rising, but Pisces is
as
Napoleon,
Cecil
to the human intelligence. We refer to Dante and Sweden­
borg, I I 3 whose conceptions of Hell still hold sway over the
Critics of literature ,viII attribute to Aquarius the
minds of great masses of men. Such empires endure long after
curious gentle 'profound psychology and to Uranus in Aries
earthly thrones have crumbled.
the passion for bloodthirsty incident which reveals him in his
Swedenborg has Sagittarius rising, and his Uranus is on the
work. Saturn is also in the Ascendant, just above Uranus, and
adds
empire-builders
philosophy declares to be the highest creative work possible
son, despite terrible ill-health, executing a series of master­
this
such
two persons who actually invented new theogonics, wbich
is no great harmony between Aries and Aquarius, but their
presence together gives hannony. So indeed we find Steven­
pieces.
instance
Rhodes, and Wilhelm II: and on the higher plane, we find
Cllt out in the Ascendant, and Uranus is just within it. There
cusp of the fourth house:
the tinge of melancholy which so increases his
Dante has Gemini rising, and
incomparable charm.
Uranus well above the horizon in the twelfth. Both these
is in the tenth house. Cancer is rising, weak, feminine, and
more intellectual; and accordingly we differentiate between
receptive, and assorts ill with the violence of Uranus in Aries.
the types o f work which they were able to accomplish.
Wilhelm II I 1 4 has Cancer rising, and accordingly he is
Another example is Ludwig II of Bavaria. I I I Here Uranus
signs are far from material, Sagittarius more mystical, Gemini
So we see a dreamy, easy, pleasure-loving temperament,
which burst out at times into maniacal enthusiasms and
extravagances.
blamed by his own subjects for that obstinate devotion to
The lack of harmony between these two
peace which delayed (and thus made more uncontrollable,
configurations is the essential gulf within the personality
uitim<\tcly) the outbreak of the Great War.
Rhodesl I S has Sagittarius rising, with Jupiter its lord just
which ultimately manifested itself as madness.
A final example is Abbas Effendi. I 1 2 As in the case of
above the horizon; Swedenborg's Jupiter was exactly trine to
Stevenson Aquarius is rising, and Herschel is just within the
Uranus, emphasising the religious bias; that of Rhodes is
squared by Neptune, which would tend to remove those
second house_ Here is the same gentle profundity as Steven­
son's. But Neptune is rising, and instead of the tremendous
qualities from Jupiter,
and bring out his force on more
I l l . Ludwig of Bavaria (1845-1886), the 'mad king', patron of
Wagner whom he invited to settle in Munich and for whom he built an
opera house.
1 1 2 . Abdul Baha ( 1 844-1921), known as Abbas Effendi, I'ersian
religious leader ilnd heild of the Bahai faith. The tenets of this faith are
the unity of all the major religions, racial equality, disarmament. Jesus,
Moses, Buddha, Mohammed are considered as prophets of the one God.
1 13. Emmanuel Swedenborg ( 1 688-1772), Swedish scientist and
mystic. who had the gift of second sight, i.e. the sight of the third eye,
or clairvoyant v
ision. lie unfolded the geography of the Celestial
Kingdom in his Arcana Coe/cstia, 1 749-56.
114. Sec note 50.
I (5. See note 30.
lerrestrial lines_
f
Uraltus
. I il'ister Crowley
128
Napoleon had Libra rising, and his Uranus is in the seventh
house; but Libra and Taurus are sympalhetic through the fact
that Venus rules both; and Venus is sex tile to Ilcrschcl ,md
culminating. There lies the explanation of his extraordinary
sense of justice; lhe Code Napoleon ranks with the laws of
16
and the Li-Kingl 1 1 as supreme among legislative
i\lanu I
efforts.
Yel another example of Uranus in Taurus is the Prince
8
Imperial;1 I
but for reasons indicated in another place, the
life itself was cut short, and its will consequently aborted.
Tom Manni I 9 has this planet in the Ascendant, but Aries
is on the cusp. The two signs arc contrary in naLUre, so there
is a lack o f harmony. His will-force is occupied entirely with
Taurus in its lowest form , that of labour; the sex tile o f
Neptune to Uranus lends eccentricity t o the ideas itwohed,
and Aries rising makes the temperament violent and abrupt.
Uranus thus assumes its most explosive form, and the result is
an ignorant and unbalanced agitator.
A superficially most dissimilar case is that of Charles I.
129
lIere is a very cognate example
III
Asquith,1 1 0
whose
obstinate patience (and nothing else) has kept him at the
head of a most unruly majority in the House of Commons.
Here Cancer is rising, making him tactful and pliable on the
sudace; Uranus in the house of Friends enables him to
conceal beneath that apparent amiability a detennination o f
steel.
A case of very similar persistence in a woman is furnished
1t
In a feminine horoscope one naturally
by Lillie Langtry.t
expects to find the venereal side o f Taunts brought out fully,
especiaJly as Libra is rising.
So the career is marked as
singularly successful; the constructive fonn is able to develop
itself without too great hindrance, especially as the Sun is
rising, sex tile to Jupiter. No doubt this aspect determines the
character o f the object o f her will; for example, had Saturn
and Luna been in the Ascendant, she might have become a
worker among the poor.
Finally, we have a large group of "'filers. We may pair for
convenience
Bernard
Shaw
and
Havelock
Ellis,!
i1
The
Here Leo is rising, and Uranus is un the cusp of the tenth
Uranus o f the latter being in the third house caused his mind
the
unfortunate
gave a scientific tum to the personaJity, the result we know.
This combined with the obstinacy o f will shown by Uranus in
eastern horizon: the unusuaJ character of the man is thus
disaster.
Ascendant, makes it vacillating and even self·contradictory.
house, always a dangerous position for a malefic, Leo gives
good·heartedness
characteristic
of
that
monarch, but Neptune rising made his temperament unstable.
Taurus,
gave a disposition which could only bring about
to occupy itself wi th very unusual subjects; Aquarius rising
Shaw, with Cemini
ri sing, has Uranus just above the
made emphatic; but the moon, on the very CliSP of the
Gemini rising adds to the airy lightness of the personality,
and conceals the tremendous driving force of Uranus, For
1 1 6. Lawbook or Cod� of Malw, a Brahmanical work ascribed by
some scholars to the 5th century B.C by others to the 2nd century
B,C. According to the Code of Manu, 'the root of all law is the Veda
and the lntditions of those who
. know the Veda', i.e. the traditional lore
or scriptures of the IIindus.
1 1 7. Lj·King, the 'Book of Rites', s
i one of the ancient books
accepted by the Chinese as classics. The Rites are those of the Imperial
Dynasty that was rcigning in the time of Confucius (5514 79 B.C.) and
was founded in 1 1 22 B.C. The Lj.King was in part edited by Confucius
and his disciples.
1 1 8. The Prince Imperial, only son of Napoleon III and the Empress
Eugenic, was ambushed and killed with the British army in the Zulu
camp..ign of 1879.
1 1 9. Labour lcader and socialist, born 1856, died 1941.
..
beneath the mask of easy wit and paradox, Shaw has done
more to upset conventional ideas than any other man
III
England, except Swinburne, since Shelley.
120. Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Odord and Asquith
(1852·1928). British statesman and Liberal Prime Minister from 1908
to 1916.
1 2 1 . See note 81.
122. lIenry Havelock Ellis (1859·1939), author of Studies in the
Psychology of Sex in six volumes, a work §o filled with details about
normal and abnorm..l sexual activity among the peoples of the world
thai it aroused the wrath and disdain of Victorian and Edwardian
society and became consequently a bestseller. His wife, a lesbian, died
mad.
UrmllU'
A fl-isl('r Crowley
1 30
Among novelists we have Guy de r\'laupassant 1 2 J and
Mabel Collins. 1 1 4
It is hardly too much to say that the
131
another kind of mysticism. Both these men, were, however,
strongly determined by
Uranus in Taunts. Their work is
former crealed the 'short story' in France. Here is Virgo
patient steady and constmctive. Coleridge had it hampered
This violence of passion, with Uranus in the eighth, presaged
no doubt prevented his will from coming to full flower; but
rising, with Venus on the horizon in conjunction with �Iars.
his melancholy and appalling death; but before this effect
could take place on the physical plane, it must first produce
by the exact square of J upitcr, and the blindness of l\!arston
the determination in both cases, is most e\'idcntiy there.
that miraculous labour whose fruit is still so sweet in OUT
Uranus i'l Gemini
mouths.
The sign Gemini is by nature singularly unsympathetic with
Here Uranus is again too near the tenth house to make for
but not persistent in motion; and the influence is accordingly
With this we may compare the horoscope of Oscar Wilde.
permanence.
Virgo
rising
has its lord
Uranus; for its force is dispersive and gentle, easily moved,
tvlercury near the
weak. We shall find persons indeed pre·eminent for dri"ing
ences in these dispositions will m'ark most significantly the
unless the rising sign be thoroughly harmonious, and both its
opposition of Uranus; a cardul consideration of the differ­
variation of his career from that of the great French writer.
force of will. Their power will be mainly that of idea; and
lord
and
Uranus
himself, well-dignified. we may expect
But we must once more point out that Uranus in Taurus
examples of failure rather than of success.
was, yet produced a tremendous, and we arc bound to admit,
distinguished for the gentleness of their doctrines and suavity
ation, especially among the half·educated.
religion, Swami Vivekananda, l
success of the theosophical movement by some rather inter·
ous with Gemini - Jupiter is ascending squared by Sol, whieh
rising; but SalUrn being in exact conjunction with Uranus,
to Mars and Neptune. Uranus himselr is on the cusp of the
cannot fail; Wilde's work, shallow, insincere, and stolen as it
a not altogether desirable effect upon the younger gener·
There is also l\labcl Collins, who did much to make the
We have, however, three great religiolls teachers, and all are
of their methods. These are the founder of the Christian
26
and Dr Rudolr Steiner.' 2 7
In the first case, Libra is rising, a sign peculiarly harmoni·
esting wTitings. As in the case of Lillie Langtry, Libra is
is in exact conjunction wi th l\!ereury and in direct opposition
Venus trine to them and Neptune sextile with Jupiter in the
tenth house. This makes Uranus by far the strongest planet in
is more to power of a subtler and more permanent sort.
paramount and unchecked, thus summing the career insofar
Ascendant, the career is less material; the direction of the will
Lastly, we have two very singular poets, Coleridge and
Philip Bourke Marston. I 2 5 The former has Sagittarius rising,
which adds its element of shy suddenness to the personality;
it is refined and beautiful like a deer. Uranus in the fifth gives
that mystic tinge which is the essence of the beauty of his
poetry, but alas! when it worked down to the material plane
made him the slave of his pleasures. The pre.Raphaelite poet
ll\'!arston I , on the other hand, has
Leo rising, and was
generous, frank and free. Uranus in the ninth house gave
123. See note 249.
124. See nOle 72.
125. See note 66.
the figure, so much so that we may regard his influence as
as the will is concerned i n the one word 'emancipation'.
The Hindu adept [Vivckanandal has Capricornus rising,
wi th the Sun and Venus, and these arc square to !\lars.
Uranus is in the eleventh house, and this made his doctrines
readily acceptable to many minds. But there is no great
harmony
between
Gemini
and
Capricomus, so that the
The German mystic [Steiner]
has Scorpio rising, which
complete temperament is not nearly so efficient as in the case
previously considered.
[26. The principal disciple or Sri Ramakrishna. the Benga[i saint.
Vivekananda was the rirst to popu[arise Voga in lhe West and to
eSlablish tho:: Ramakrishna Mission in countries outside India.
[27. See note 67.
1 32
lImnla"
. l leisll" Crowley
adds great scientific accomplishment to the Uranian \'eclOr,
.
Mars, too, ItS lord, is exactly semi-sex tile to Uranus; but the
latter is squared by Sol, gravely diminishing the general
potency of the planet, which is, moreover, if} the se\,enth
house, by no means a powerful position in such a case.
We now come to it group of notoriously weak person·
alities. George V, the Duke of Clarence and Avondale, I 2 8
Alfred Drcyfus, 1 2 9 I)on Carlos of Spain, I J O Florence �Iay.
brick, l 3 I W.B. Yeats, L J 2 �Iarie Bashkirtseffl J J and Vail­
lant. I J 4 Every one of these may be e1asscd as a failure in his
or her own line of life, and onc �ced look no further into the
horoscope to discover the reason.
A marc successful type is �Iaurice Maeterlinck, L J S but
here Scorpio is rising with its lord Mars in sextile to Uranus.
Consequently, the driving force of the one compensates the
weakness of the other.
We
have
an
even
belter
example
of
this
in
Lord
Brougham, t 3 6 with Libra rising, and Venus in her own hOllse
just above the horizon. The innuence is still mental; Gemini
can never act on the material plane directly; but Uranus is in
the eighth hOllse, and so the great lawyer became what he
133
judicial faculty, and :\lcrcury the ment"l ruler is just below
Venus.
An e"en more strenuous politician is John Burns. t J 7 Once
more the forceful Scorpio is rising, implying iron determi­
nation. Uranus in Gemini here givcs the limit and the means.
His trllst is in his eloquence, and Uranus being trined by Mars
makes him a great fighting orator. Both he and Brougham
display the same dogged will, but the difference between
them is most clearly characterised by the difference between
Libra and Scorpio; the one adroit, supple, weighing every
word, the other hacking through.
Not dissimilar to either, indeed a sort of mean propor·
tional between them, is Theodore Roosevelt. I 3 8 Here Sagit­
tarius is rising and Uranus is in the fifth house. There is a sort
of boyish pleasure in the will, a spontaneity in the eloquence,
which appealed immensely to the great hearted children of
the Republic. The breeziness, the spirit of the vast deserts
that they have wrung from the bison and the Indian, was in
his words. Thc affliction of Jupiter by the opposition of
Venus makes the temperament somewhat rash and tactless;
and when the people were not swept off their feet by the
was through dealing with the minds of the dead by his study
first gust, there was no reservc of fact to influence their
128. The eldest son of Edward VII. a psychopath recently claimed
to have been Jack the Ripper.
129. See note 37.
130. Don Carlos ( / 848·1909), Prince of Bourbon. claimant to the
Spanish throne. See Crowley's Confessions for an account of Crowley's
connection with Oon C:lrlos.
1 3 1 . Florence Maybrick was alleg�d to have poisoned her husband
with arsenic cxtraclC�d from ny·papers. She was tried and convicted in
1889 and sentenced to death. but she was subsequently reprieved and
served a long term of imprisonment. At the time there was grave doubt
about her guilt.
132. See note 46.
133. See note 78.
134. Sec nOte 83.
1 3 5 . Maurice t.laeterlinck ( 1 864.1949), Belgian poel. dramatist and
essayist, author of Plllleas et Mi:tisande, 1892, which Debussy made into
an opera, The Blue Bird, 1908. and The Life of the Bee, 1 9 0 1 .
1 3 6 . l.ord Brougham ( 1 778·1868), famous statesman and lawyer. He
designed and gave his name to a four·wheeled, closed, horse-drawn
carriage.
his failure.
of precedent. Libra, again, in material matters implies the
second thoughts. Here then, in this simple configuration of
three planets, we read the whole secret of his success and of
Not so far removed, either, from
preacher, Billy Sunday.' J 9
this category is the
Once more, Scorpio is rising,
137. Socialist politician and labour leader. lie was born in 1858 and
died in 1943. He led. with Ben Tillett, the great London dock strike of
1889.
138. See note 47.
139. A Philadelphian revivalist who was at the height of his powers
during Ihe lime Ihis book was wrillen. In Crowley's Commentary on
The Book of Ihe Law, wrillen in 192\. appears this passage: 'In l.atin
countries. where Sin is not taken seriously, and sex.expression is simple:,
wholesome, and free. drunkenness is a rare accident. It is only in
Puritan countries, where self.analysis, under the whip of a coarse bully
like Billy Sunday, brings Ihe hearer 10 "conviclion of sin", that he hits
first the "trail" and then the "booze". Can you image an "evangelist"
in Taormina? It is to laugh.' Crowley also wrote a brief essay on Billy
Sunday, which was published in The International, New York, Octobcr
1915.
134
Urtlll W
.lIeisler Crowley
Mars and Jupiter in close cunjunction just above the ClISp of
1 35
the ascendant, and once again we sec the brutal thrust of the
the poet Thomas i\ioore. 1 4 1 SCOlVio is rising. al1(l there is the
successful man, no doubt, especially ,IS l\lars is in his own
attain its ends. And here again the effort is upon me minds of
weakened by the conjunction of the moon and of 5,iturn,
personality almost blatant, breaking through all obstacles to
men. But there is nothing subtly persuasive; the only wcapon
is the bludgeon. lie liberally bullies meR into belief or what
house, just
above
the
eastern skyline.
But he is sorely
while Uranus is squared by Jupiter. lIence the extremely
narrow limit of his art, and the monotony of his melody.
for the moment passes for belief.
Another \'i orous personality is Ula! of the suffragette Mrs
Uranus, too, is in the sevemh hOllse, and it is nner well for
some troublc on the cusp of Leo, his own decan, whose name
by his achievement; and his best·known work is not as vital
Pankhurst,- 4
§
with Aquarius rising, but its lord Saturn in
is strife.
Aquarius and Gemini arc friendly enough however, and
thus
we
Mercury
observe
that
within
the
narrow limitations ­
is afflicted by the conjunction of Saturn in the
sixth, a most unrortunate house for the mental ruler - her
the will to connict with the personality. i\loorc was con­
sequently but a feeble singer; his ambition was never equalled
and elemental as with happier configurations i t might have
been. Even more than William Morris, 1 4 2 he is 'the singer of
an empty day', the least brilliant of that extraordinary galaxy
of genius which dazzled the eyes of men a century ago.
One
of
the
bJfcatest chemists that cvcr lived was Sir
will has produced remarkable results.
Humphrey Davy } 4 3 He, too, has Scorpio rising, but its Lord
Richard Strauss, with cancer rising, and Uranus not far above
noble devotion to justice, in Nalure, which made him so
Turning to music and the arts, we have the composer
the Orient. The Moon, lady of Cancer, is in the third house,
i n Virgo; thus the mind and the temperament arc i n tunc; and
Cancer is a sign most delicate and pleasing, recep tive of
harmoniOliS impulses from without. The Sun too, lord of
Mars is in exact trine to Uranus, in Libra, giving him that
perfect an observer. Here lhen is a temperament of ideal
balance, and the will worked freely al its gigantic and most
honourable ambition. It may be objected that i\lars is in his
dctriment, but the trine of Uranus fully compensatcs for this
!l.Iusic, is with Uranus, and Venus stands, the morning star
weakness. Scorpio gives the inquiring mind, and the position
the composer of Electra and Salome.
such assistance. With Neptune and Jupitcr in exact con­
above them. Ilow beautiful a picture or the temperament or
The
painter J.M.W.
Turner
is another most excellent
example of this thesis. One may ask where lies the peculiar
force of Gemini; hut a further investigation of the horoscope
will justify wisdom of her children. Capricornus is rising wi th
of Uranus in the Zodiac could not but operate freely with
junction in the House of Fame, the will was assured not only
of success but of recognition.
Uranus in Cancer
Saturn in close trine to Uranus, thus harmonising the person­
So passive, so placid, so receptivc, so mutable, so conserva·
Venus, the Planet of graciolls form and brilliant colour. A
active, violent, creative, determined, revolutionary rays of
ality, while Uranus himself is modified by the conjunction of
certain ruggedness and power is added to these by the square
of i\lars.
Far less amicable dispositions are found i n the nativity of
140. There were two suffragette women caned Pankhurst, mother
and daughter. Crowley presumably means the daughter, Sylvia, who
was active during the time he was writing and who founded a militant
suffragette movement in 1903. She died in 1960.
tive, a sign as Cancer cannot bc expected to accord with the
141. Thomas Moore ( 1 7 79·1852), prolific and popular poet, friend
and executor of Byron. To hi$ eternal shame, he agreed to lhe
destruction of Byron's Memoirs which were considered too frank for
the time.
142. William Morris (1834·1896) British poet, Pre·Raphaelite.
utopian socialist, an;hitect, printer, designer and protagonist of the arts
and I:rafts movement.
143. Sec note 90.
136
.1 1t'lster Crowft'.\'
Uranus. It will tend to dissolve his violence. rather as waler
mingles wi th sulphuric acid, generating fierce heat perhaps
for a Illoment, but leaving a diluted substance, the qualities
of both, for good or evil, quenched and dissipated. Yet there
may in fa\'ouTablc conditions be found a modification and
expansion of the forcc,jusl as some \iolcnt perfume needs to
be spread out into a greater volume before the olfactory
nerves can perceive it with pleasure. We shall then expect to
Uranus
137
the worst o f thc poet. Strong-willed and self-willed h e was,
yet unable to persist in will; he was at once weak and violent,
stormy and querulous; with all his advantages and his talents,
his rank and his reputation. he died a disappointed man,
having sought in vain that victory which comes only from
virtue.
Another hot-tempered individual was Queen Elizabeth I .
whose Uranus is with Saturn. Lord o f th e Ascendant, Capri­
find the power of Uranus neutralised by Cancer, and whether
comus. in the hOllse of marriage and of public enemies. Here
more than in other signs upon the Ascendant, and upon the
whole substance of her ,vill was bound up in the seventh
this leaves a residuum potent and yet pleasant will depend (ar
dignities and aspects of lhe lord thereof, and upon those of
Uranus himself.
We shall certainly not expect to discover many people who
have re\'olutionised their age. who have dominated their
contemporaries in any radical manner. We shall not expect
any real strength of witI, any true masterfulness of tempera­
ment.
The facts bear alit this prognosis. There is Savonarola, 1 4 4
to take out best available example first, but his Uranus is in
29 degrees, and its innuence extends therefore to the cusp of
Leo. In his case, moreover, Aries is rising, with i\lars exalted
in Capricornus; and his Uranus is trined by Jupiter. Mars is
weakened by the conjunction of the f!.loon, but the square of
Saturn
adds
determination, and somewhat embitters the
configuration, while i\lars, being in the tenth. house, domi­
nates the entire figure. There is therefore, much force in the
personality; the temperament is directed lO religion and
confined within those limits by the aforesaid trine of Jupiter
who is in his own hOllse, Pisces, just above the horizon.
In
28 degrees is the Uranus of Byron, and here, too,
perhaps Leo has something to say in the matter. But Cancer
is rising and its lady the �loon is in close conjunction with
Uranus. The temperament is therefore harmonious within
itself, but easy-going, pleasure-loving, artistic, sensuous, ec­
centric and mutable. The power of the character comes
rather from Mars - in his fall on the cusp of the Ascendant.
This configuration seems admirably to describe the best and
144. See nOl� 57.
is a falal opposition of personality and temperament. The
house, and arrogant and masterful as her personality was, she
could never secure dynasty_ In spite of all the glories of her
reign. its true essence and tragedy - and the tragedy "Of
England, the beginning of her decline and fall was her failure
to save her house. From a Tudor to a Stuart, from a Stuart to
a Guelph, from a Guelph to a Coburg, 1 4 s is a decay longer
drawn-out, yet no less certain than the downgrade in Imperial
Rome from Augustus to Tiberius. to Caligula. to Nero.
There are two other persons of importance in their day
who have this position of Uranus: Alfred lIarmsworth l 4 6
and Rudyard Kipling, both journalists, one i n the wholesale
and the other in the retail business. Kipling has Uranus on the
very cusp of his Ascendant, and unquestionably there was
never a more self-supporting personality. He struck an exces­
sively
definite
note, and rose at times to extraordinary
heights. I-Ie is the only author who has really succeeded in
understanding and portraying the ruling class of England. The
conjunction of Sol and Jupiter, and that of �Iercllry, Mars,
and Venus, have much to say to this; but this is a digression,
the poim here to be emphasised is the unique personal note
struck by Uranus in the Ascendant, and its resolution in
artistic form by the fact of that Ascendant being Cancer.
With lIarmsworth, the case is different. Jupiter is rising in
Sagittarius, and the Uranus i n Cancer becomes of secondary
145. By 'Guelph' Crowl�y s�ems to m�an, in a derogatory way, the
Hous� of Hanover. which institut�d the Royal Guelphic Ord�r of
Knighthood. The Coburgs, or Saxe-Coburgs. were the family of I'rinc�
Albert and his dcsc�ndanls.
146. S�� nOIC 63.
l38
.l /eister Crowley
Uranus
1 39
importance. It merely tics him down to a method, that of
Aries, all just under the Ascendant, and the lord Saturn is
fierceness of his schemes is detcnnincd by the rising sign.
Neptune in particular. lIere then is the insatiable ambition,
working upon the people, by publicity. The sudcenness and
Sir David Wilkie] 4 7 is a good example o f this position.
Gemini is rising, and its lord Mercury weakened by the
opposition of Mars, so that the innuence of Uranus in Cancer
comes Ollt strongly. Uranus is in trine to the Sun, confirming
the artistic predisposition conferred by Cancer. Thus he was a
sensible sliccessful painter, wi th a fine sense of btauty, but
with nothing in him to set the Firth of Forth on fire.
With him we may place Sir Henry WOOd, 1 4 1S a good,
capable, conservative conductor, who would have been as
faithful had fate placed him on a street car as in a concen
hall. Gemini is rising; Uranus on the cusp of the third house,
and Mercury is squared by Jupiter. It is (he same cause, a
weakened personality, \vith the same effect, the undisturbed
action of the placid Cancer mentality. Four planets in Pisces
confirm the tendency to expression in anistic fonn .
Another example is the Tsar Nicholas 11. 1 4 9 Virgo is
rising, as passive and quiescent as Cancer itself, and l\Jercury
is in close opposition to Saturn. Venus is in almost exact
conjunction with Uranus in the tenth house. From such a
confib'l,ration what good can be expected? The native hap·
pened to be born to the throne of all the Russias. Oh,
unfortunate nation, to be punished with so weak a ruler at a
time when a Caesar or an Alexander could hardly have
averted the impending catastrophe.
Our last example is Madame Steinheil. 1
50
In this nativity
Aquarius is rising, but (here are no less than five planets in
trine from the tenth house to all of them in general, and
limitless and indomitable, except that being in the fifth
house, it gave her the temperament of pleasure, and laid
down the lines along which she worked to aggrandise her
vaulting personality. Saturn in the tenth house laid his scythe
to the root of her tree in the very season of its blossoming.
Uranus in Leo
There is a particular sympathy between Uranus and Leo, not
only because of the cherubic quality of the sign, but because
it is a Solar sign, and Uranus is the secret generative force by
t
which we call the Sun Father. Leo, too, by the Yetziratic1 5
auribution of the Qabalists, is a snake as well as a lion, and
the magical image of his first decanate is a crowned lion with
the body of a snake. Now Uranus himself combines very
closely
the
force
of these
two animals. Fierceness and
subtlety alternate in his mode of action; he is weighty in his
onset and yet dangerously sudden; he is the giver of life and
death.
In fact, it is through Uranus that we are led to
recognise the extremely close correspondence between Leo
and Scorpio. One is the Lion, the other the Eagle, of the
alchemistic philosophy; both possess the secret nature of the
snake; and in their evil and averse aspect one is Cerbents and
the other the Black Dragon of Putrefaction. Those versed in
alchemy will behold and wonder at the beauty and lucidity
of this symbolism.
There is however one serious drawback to this position of
Uranus; this, that the very sympathy with the secret part of
147. Sir David Wilkie ( 1 785.1841), Scottish genre and portrait
painter.
148. Henry Jo.scph Wood (1 869-1944). For over half a century he
was the conductor of the Queen's Hall Promenade Concerts in London.
149. Tsar Nicholas n (1868·1918) came to the throne in 1894 and
was assassinatt:d by the Bolsheviks. together with the Tsaritsa,
Tsarevitch and other members of the Imperial Family, on 1 6 July 1 9 1 8 .
150. The President o f France, Felix Faure (1841-1899) died o f a
cerebral haemorrhage during sexual intercourse in his study in the
Elysee Palace with a lady called Madame SteinheiL Stcinheil afterwards
married Lord Abinger. the grandson of General Scarlett who led the
charge of the Heavy Brigade in the Crimea.
the Solar force creates a danger. Apollo is called 'creator and
destroyer'; the Linb'<lml 5 2 is addressed by the Greeks as
'all.begetter, all·devourq' and this force is now seen to be
concentrated in Uranus. And unless the Sun in any male
horoscope be reasonably well·dignified there is no danger to
the life of the native. Now the presence of Uranus in the
1 5 1 . Yetzirah (the World of Formation), the name given by the
Qabalists to the astral plane.
[52. Lingam, the phallus. an emblem of the god Shiva, a form of
adamantine, or 'diamond', consciousness.
110
.lll'lsla Cruwlt'Y
house o f the Sun is itself an arniction of the Sun. 011 the
material plane, and so we must have Sol wcl!-dignificd in
other ways or the native is liable to die before the occult
power or the planet has time to manifest.
There is accordingly a great paucity of examples of the
thesis which we have put forward as to its natural action
when isolated;
since from
the nature of the case, such
isolation is rather rare. Shelley is our one great exemplifi­
cation; and his case is fortunately vcr)' perfect. We sec the
revolutionary influence at wo(k in Greathcart;' 5 3 the rebel
against the fcncrs that bind humanity, overflowing with solar
force and love, bla.les on high, melting the cold passions of
age and experience with his naming jets of whitc·hot vapour
of gold.
Such works as Prometheus Unbound and The
World's Tragedy I 5 4 are purc Uranus in Leo. Shellcy was saved
from early death through illness by the conjunction of the
Sun and Vcnus; six degrees from Uranus Sagittarius is rising
and its lord Jupitcr is i n conjunction with Mars and Neptune.
Unfortunately, Uranus being in the eighth house, a violent
death was indicated. Howevcr, he had done his work; he had
sown a new seed in the licld of humanity, one of the most
fruitful ever planted.
Another case of the most promising talent cut short is
Edward VI,
I SS
admittedly the most accomplished scholar of
his period. At an agc when most boys are still struggling with
the clements of Latin, he spoke nuently not only that
comparatively easy language, but also Greek and Hebrew.
Here again, howc\'er, the Sun is only seven degrees from the
square of Uranus, and is himself squared within one degree
by the �Ioon. The lord of the Ascendant Virgo, Mercury, is
squared by Mars again within one degree. With sllch aspects it
153. Shellcy did nol write a poem called 'Grcalhcarf. Therc is a
l)Ocm or th..t titlc by Kipling. wrincn on thc dcath in 1 9 1 9 of
Thcodorc Roosevc\L Great-Heart is a character in Bunyan's Pilgrim's
Progress.
154. Crowley also wrote a book with this titlc, published in Paris in
1910. 'Privalcly printed for circulation in free countries. Copies must
not be imported inlo England or America.'
155. Edward VI, only son of Henry VIII, reigned from 1547 to
1553.
141
l.!rmllu
was impossible for the promise o f youth 10 be redeemed b)
the achievement of age.
Another
superb
example
of
the seductive,
fascinating
temperament given by Uranus in Leo is that of Mary Queen
o f Scots, as she stands out from all other queens for beauty
and tragedy, 1 5 6 not because these were so much greater than
the others, but on account of the temperament itself, which
has the faculty of inspiring the most ama.ling extremes of
attraction and repulsion. There is never anything half-hearted
about the feeling with which such people are regarded. With
Shelley, haIf the world made him Apollo incarnate; the rest
thought, and even wrote, that he was in sober truUl not
1I
man at all, bm a devil sent specially from hell to plague
humanity. So with �Iary Queen of Scots. She had Taurus
rising and Venus in semi-sextile to the �Ioo�, Sol is trine to
Uranus; but being in the eighth house, a vlOl�n t death was
presaged as soon as the direction permitted, which duly came
to pass.
Rather similar is the case of Cleo de �terode. 1 S 1 whose
fascination may be held to match Ulat of the unhappy Stuart.
It has the same serpentine quality. Here Pisces is rising and its
lord Jupiter is culminating. The life is made secure by �c
.
.
.
trine of t-.tars to the �toon, and there IS no lllcompaliblhty
anywhere to hurt the native.
Another example of the fascination, thi� time in a �an, is
.
Winston Churchill, the one really attracl1ve personality III
English politics. At an age when most men, e�en i f t�ey sta�t
with his advantages of birth and wealth, arc Just taking t elr
scat
for
the
�
first time in Parliament, he was a Cabmet
Minister, holding the most responsible portfolios. S� 0':Pio is
ol IS III thc
rising, a most harmonious circumstance and
.
Ascendant, sex tile to Saturn, so that the life IS protected.
�
However, Uranus is rather near the cusp of the tenth house
and a sudden fall, such as took place in 19 1 5, was only to be
58
expected. 1
156. She was executed in 1 587.
157. Belgian courtesan, nourished about 1900, a friend or Edward
VII. Shc held court al the famous Paris restauranl, Maxime's.
158. Crowley did not sec. in ChurchiWs chart, his laler rise to
unheard of heights.
UrallUS
tlleislcr Crowley
142
113
..
Sometimes the temperamellt o f Uranus in Leo confers
influence, as in the case of Cancer, becomes harmonised and
Datas 1 5 9 with Cancer rising, the sign o f memory and the
the temperamcnt will be meanly marked; onc is likely to find
eccentricity and mental instability, and it is improbable that
unique powers in some obscure direction. One may instance
Moon in opposition to Uranus, limiting the mental powers to
fixed; but this will only be in special cases. For the most part
this peculiar faculty of remembering dates.
any great driving force will be developed.
very small and unusual accomplishment. The square of �Iars
to Uranus indicates the special line in which the temperament
is displayed. A third case is Pelissier' 6 1 who scored no
greatest novelist that ever lived.
producing a new form of entertainment. Here Leo is rising,
is no lack o f harmony between the personality and the
Like him is l-Ioudini l 6 0 with unequafled dexterity in one
special success until he did something original and unique,
Uranus in the twelfth hOllse squared by the Sun. I-Ience the
success was sudden and all too short.
Our last example is George Edalji. 1 6 2
Here Scorpio is
However, there is [hc case of Bal.lac, presumably the
Ilere
Leo is rising, and
Uranus, though just within the second house, has no planet
between him and the horizon. The Sun, lord of the Ascend­
ant, is in conjunction with Jupiter in the tenth house. There
temperament, except for the mercurial touch given by Virgo,
which made the master personally very eccentric in manner
and somewhat unaccountable in his actions; at Icast, so it
rising and Uranus lOO near the CliSp of the tenth house to be
appeared to the majority of his contemporaries.
An exact semi·sextile of Venus to Sol saves the life and Mars
Libra is rising, and Uranus is in opposition to Sol. This gave
career and therefore we need not be surprised at the tragedy
ment, although bound to slUdy by its mcrcurial side, was
pleasant, especially as l\lcrcury is in exact opposition to him.
the ruler is in his own house. But there is no great help to the
A person of great learning was Pico de l\lirandola. 1 6 J Here
him a love for obscure branches of knowledge; the tempera­
of the life, If he was guihy, we may consider that the Uranus
further limited by opposition.
leled in history; and the nature of the crime is very character·
sort of music, it may be that the temperament turns in this
evident; for his case excited the continuous interest of many
violinist �'laud l\lacCarthy with this position. Each excellent
not only his pardon but his reinstatement as a solicitor was
composers.
in Leo position conferred dexterity in crime almost unparal·
istic, But in any event, the fascination o f the personality is
of England's leading publicists, so much so that ultimately
obtained from the King.
Urmlus in Virgo
So earthy, mercurial, passive a sign as Virgo can have little in
Mercury having much to do with the minor, executant,
direction. We have the pianist Wilhelm Backhaus, and the
technically, lacks any creative power such as we see in great
With' Brigham Young, I 6 4 however, Uranus is rising just
within the second house in exact sextile to �'Iars and within 4
degrees of the conjunction of Jupiter. �Iercury the lord is in
close conjunction with Sol. This combination gives that
common with the fire and activity of Uranus. Sometimes the
tremendous energy and ability which he had, and which the
159. William Rotlle, 'The Memory Man', born 1875, died after 1938.
160 . American entertainer and escapologist, born in Appleton.
Wisconsin ill 1873. llis forte was escaping from locked chambers.
Keenly interested in psychical phenomena, he was so adept at creating
them that he was hailed by spiritualists as a medium, despite his own
protestations.
1 6 1 . "Iarry Pelissier. actor and theatrical manager, founder of The
Follies, first husband of Fay Compton, the actress. He dial. in 1 9 1 3 ,
aged 39.
162. See nOte 82.
Far more characteristic of the isolated action is Miss
Lind-af-Hageby, 1 6 S with five planets in Virgo, and Libra
mere position of Uranus would have denied him.
163. See note 42.
l64. See note 44.
165: Emilie Augusta Louise J..ind-af.llageby was born in 1878 in
Sweden and became British by naluralisation. She was an anti-vivisc::c­
tionist. a women's liberation champion, and author of many books on
humanitarian subjects.
l44
Urrmlls
Ail'isler Crowley
rising. Venus, lhe lady of the Ascendant, is less (han seven
degrees from the conjunction of Uranus. The temperament
and personality arc therefore united, but Virgo has full sway,
and so the character is somewhat cold, sexless, and logical. A
trine of Jupiter and Sol give enthusiasm, but this lies within
the arid plains of knowledge. Despite its humanitarian object,
his
birth
145
Cancer was rising, a very proper sign for the
reccptiQn of inspired knowledge; unhappily, Luna, dose to
Mercury, is in exact opposition to thc cusp of the Ascendant,
in her detriment, and square to Uranus, which is conjoined
with Saturn. Libra itself is not very hamlOnious with Cancer,
and though there is much power developed, such power is
one feels nothing vcry human in the work.
bound to work in a disordered manner. There is no help from
The influence of Virgo at its worst is seen in Miss Violet
Charlcsworth, 1 6 6 of the imaginary motor-car accident and
ation of the temperament issues in the putting forth of the
scarlet cloak and momentary music-hall engagement notori­
ety. Here Mercury appears as the boyish trickster; and Uranus
makes the trick fantastic and explosive.
This sort of thing is much more to be expected from the
Uranus in Virgo of the ordinary person, than anything of a
constructive, creative, or even emancipatory or revolutionary
charactcr.
Uranus in Libra
Owing to the exaltation of Saturn in the house of Venus,
there is something sinister and subtle about the sign of Libra.
the bright planets, Sol, Jupiter or Venus, and so the oper­
most unreadable books ever written, dull, stupid, discon­
nected and pointless, for the records of truth.
6
There is much tragedy in the horoscope of James II I 6 of
England . Here Uranus is in the third house, with a sextile of
Luna and a semi-sextile of Sol, but squared by Jupiter. Sol is
Lord of the Ascendant, Leo, but he is in Scorpio; and r.,·tars is
rising in his own, the third, decanate of Leo, which represents'
unsuccessful struggle. Uranus, too, is in the third house, so
that the mentality is eccentric. The whole outlook was
gloomy in the extreme, and it is easy to predict an increasing
tension, due to tactlessness and ill-temper, qualities which
Its own nature too, is the balance; and when that balance is
indeed cost him his thlOne.
scale, we may expect very astonishing results. Where Venus is
monarque'. Here Scorpio is rising, its lord Mars sex tile to
upset by such a flaming sword as Uranus being cast into the
afflicted and Saturn strong, we shall find that the influence is
o.ften excessively dangerous; but good dispositions and digni­
ties of Venus, and an harmonious rising sign and happy
Contrast these positions with those of Louis XlV, 'Ie grand
Uranus. Instantly we perceive a hannony of temperament, of
the ambitious type, not very amiable, perhaps, but singularly
strong and without inhibitions. The reign of such a monarch
aspects to Uranus himself, may bring about the deVelopment
could not but be successful, as the world judges success.
will give play to the impulses of Uranus; in fact, one might
shot, with his father, in Lisbon some years ago. 1 6 9
this sign.
Mars in Aries and squared by Saturn in his detriment, Sol and
of the most useful forces. The freedom of Libra, an airy sign,
almost say that he is ncver more himself than when he is in
Taking first some
A case of great misfortune is the Crown Prince of Portugal,
Here Uranus on the cusp of the twelfth house, opposed by
Mercury going to the conjunction of Mars, could only mean
rather unfortunate examples, let us
consider the nativity of Joseph Smith. I 6 1 Note, however,
violent death. The temperamental quality bestowed by the
happen not to be mormons, and we must recognise even
action on the material plane.
will, however, be lawful for us as astrologers to give planetary
168. See note 187.
169. Luiz Fdipe who was assassinated with his father. Dom Carlos,
in 1908. T1is younger brother. Dom Manoel, ascended thc throne. In
1910, Portugal became a republic and Dom Manoel settled in
Richmond, Surrey.
that it only appears unfortunate to us insofar as we may
position of Uranus is therefore masked by his direct malefic
those forces of genius with which we are not in sympathy. It
reasons for thinking this prophet to have been mistaken. At
166. A well-known soubrette of the day.
167. See nole 33.
146
. 1 {cisler
The s.evcr� quality of the vision of Di
irer is determined by
the cOIlJlmCtlon made by Saturn with his Sun, Lord of Leo,
the Ascendant. Uranus is in the third house, making possible
such pictures as 'The Astrologer' and 'The Four Witches'. But
there is a strong friendship between Leo and Libra, and the
temperament is a most musical symphony of these signs and
planets.
A morc Venusian type of artist is Sir Joshua Reynolds. I 7 0
Here Virgo is rising, but in 29 degrees, so that Libra occupies
aJmost the whole Ascendant. It is therefore to be taken that
his influence is singularly free from admixture. A sextile of
Jupiter and Saturn to Uranus lends him exceptional force,
and it is to be noted that Sol, Venus, Mercury and Luna are
all in the tenth house, and thus bear rule over the entire
figure.
It may
be remarked here that when there is any
dispute, so to say, among the other planets, the tenth house
assumes primary importance.
In
literature
we
have a
figure
analogous
Reynolds in painting: Sir E. Bulwer-Lytton.1 7
I
to
that
of
Here Cancer
is rising, causing him to prefer antiquity to modern times, to
,wite historical novels rather than modern, and even when he
wrote of modern times, as in
A Strange Story,
to introduce
the ideas of the past and make them more prominent than
those of the present. The Moon is on the cusp
of the
Ascendant, or he might have gone even farther than he did; as
it was, his personality was diffuse, his tendency was to play
first at magic, next at politics, then at literature. Were Cancer
more appropriate to Libra, the result had been happier; but
the truth is that nothing goes well without a dash of fire
so!1lewhere in its composition. But in any case this dispersion
of interests is somewhat characteristic of Libra.
The inOuence of Uranus in this sign at its best and most
judicial is seen in Sir William Ilamiiton, 1 7 2 who may be
170. Sir Joshua Reynolds ( 1 723.1792), founding member and firs I
Presidcnt of the Royal Academy . He was a prolific protrait painter, a
.
nend of r Johnson and a member of the famous dining club which
mcluded Gibbon. Uurke, Garrick, Sheridan. Goldsmith and others.
1 7 1 . See nOIC 40.
172. Sir illiam lIamillon. Bart. ( 1 788.1856), Scottish philosopher
whose doctnne of 'natural realism' was attacked by John Stuan Mill.
.
�
I?
�"'
In
Urlllzus
Crowley
considered on the whole .IS one o f the six greatest meta­
physicians that Britain has ever produced.
Here Gemini is rising, and r.. lercury is in his own house
Virgo
in conjunction with Venus. This gave the mental
development full play, otherwise Uranus in the fifth hOllse
might have caused trouble. The perfect harmony of the two
airy signs, and the good dignity of �Iercury, allow full play to
the bener side of Uranus. Hence we find him probing deeply
into the most recondite mysteries of existence, and display­
ing the most e\'en judgment as well as the subtlest power of
analysis.
In the case of Petrarch, we find on the other hand that
emphasis is to be laid upon the fact that Venus rules Libra,
Leo is rising, giving him a large and warm heart,. especially as
Sol, its ruler, is close under the CliSP of the Ascendant, while
MercllTY, exactly on it, adds keen intellect to the personality .
Venus is trine to Uranus, and lends tenderness and beauty to
his fierce and passionate rays. Is further explanation needed
of the circumstance that he challenges even Dante as the Poet
of Love, twin lamps of glory in the darkness of the �Jiddle
Ages?
In the horoscope of Erasmus, Uranus is in
9
degrees of
Libra, just above the cusp of the Ascendant, while Venus is
rising just below it. But Uranus is opposed by Saturn, making
the temperament cold; Mercury, too, is ascending, and the
Sun is in conjunction with the r-oloon and t\"eptune in Scorpio,
diminishing
his glow.
Here then is the great scholar as
opposed to the great lover.
A very incarnation of passion is to be found in Gcorge
Sand, 1 7 J with 27 degrees of Aquarius rising and Saturn
sextile to Neptune. The temperature is harmonious enough,
and the intellectual side or the woman is clearly indicated by
the points given above. but Uranus in the seventh house
disordered thc marriage relation, especially as he is squared
by
Sol from the fifth house.
These configurations soon
became dominant, for by direction Pisces soon became the
Ascendant, and Ht:rsehel reached the radical place of its lord,
1 7 3. George Sand (1804.1876). prolific French romantic novelist
whose list of lovers is longn even than thc list of her published works.
She was an early advocate of women's lil.lcration.
.I it'isla Crowley
[48
Jupiter. The result is clearly to be traced
UrG./ws
III
her volcanic
career.
George Borrow'
74
has Uranus exactly rising squared by
Sol and �-1crcllry, while Venus, the lady of .the Ascendant, is
squared by Saturn. This fully accounts for his queer sardonic
temperament, its flashes of genius and its strange outbursts of
passion.
in the nativity of Victor IIugo,l 7 S Scorpio was rising with
[49
Two very sllccessful young ladies on the London stage are
Phyllis and Zena Dare, 1 7 7 both of whom has Uranus in
Libra. The former has Libra rising, Venus on the cusp of the
Ascendant trine to Neptune; the latter with Pisces rising, has
Jupiter in conjunction with Uranus in the seventh hOllse, that
of marriage. The former was more famous than her sister for
her
personality;
the latter married into
the British aris­
tocracy.
Mars in Aquarius not specially strong, high or well-aspected.
Aquarius is friendly to Libra, however, and as after all r..-1ars is
within
5
degrees of the trine of Uranus, the personality and
Uranus in Scorpio
The nature of Uranus is so singularly like that of Scorpio, so
temperament go well enough together. In fact, olle may
far as
conceive that this combination gave the extraordinary power
concerned, that we may anticipate his presence in this house
of work which the great poct and novelist possessed.
The cynical voluptuaTY Sainte-Reuvel 1 6 has Pisces rising
and Jupiter
in Scorpio in conjunction with Venus, and
Neptune, a very apt description of the personality. Uranus
has the conjunction of Saturn, squared by !\krcury, and there
is the temperament, and the tone of his life's work criticism.
Dumas has Leo rising with the Sun just above the horizon,
his
less
humanitarian
and
uplifting
aspects were
to be so strong as to dominate the personality, even where
that is of an opposite character. The excellence of this
position will depend largely upon the aspects of Uranus,
more so than in the case of other signs. It has been generally
alleged that Uranus has a special affinity for the sign
Aquarius, and some innovators have gone so far as to call it
his house. To sLich a position, breaking up as it does the
scxtile to Uranus. Here again is a splendid harmony and its
entire septenary system of correspondences, it is impossible
dominant note is the rich boyish glow always conferred by
to assent. Neptune and Uranus represent forces far beyond
Leo, unless the Sun be most
the plane on which that system operates; and it is useless to
sorely afflicted, or Saturn
present in the sign.
174. George Borrow (1803-1881), linguist, novelist and agel'll of the
British and Foreign Bible Society, author of The Bible in Spain and
Romany Rye_ He introduced the gypsies into English literature.
175. Victor Marie Hugo (1802-1885), French poet, novelist,
dramatist and leader of the romantic movement in France, was one of
the great figures of world literature.
176. Charles-Augustin Sainte·Beuve ( 1 804-1869). French literary
critic. 'lie is a short, tubby little man, stockily built with a peasant's
neck and shoulders, dressed in a simple country manner, rather like
Beranger, without any stylish touches. He has a high forehead, a bald
white head, large eyes, a long, inquisitive, sensual nose, a wide, crudely
shaped mouth, a broad smile which reveals a set of white teeth,
prominent cheekbones like a pair uf wens: altogether a somewhat
batrachian face with a pink, well-fed complexion. To judge by his hale
and hearty appearance, his white forehead and his rosy checks. one
might take him for an intelligent provincial coming out of a library, a
cloister of books, under which there was a cellar of rich burgundy'
(pages from The Goncourl Journal, Ir. Robert Baldick).
destroy the old unless the new is demonstrably better. We
prefer to assign Uranus to all the Cherubic signs, Neptune to
all
the
passive signs, while the pn'mum mobile may be
properly considered to rule over the Cardinal signs. By this
method, we not only retain the septenary system but com­
plete it by assimilating it to the Qabalistic tenfold system of
the Tree of Life, without the smallest disturbance. We retain
the twelvefold Zodiac, and the attributions of the Tarot, and
a thousand other systems which are irrevocably interlocked
with these; and we remain in p.erfecl communion with the
thought of the Ancients. This appears a wiser and marc
rational course than to exhibit our ignorance of the necessity
of the septenary in order to show off our knowledge about
Uranus.
1 7 7 . Phyllis and Zena Dare, distinguished aclresses, born 1890 and
1887 respectively.
150
A/eisler Crowley
Uranus
To return, Aquarius is in any case a sign interchangeable
with Scorpio; the eagle o f Scorpio is the waler rherub, and
the
man
of
Aquarius
the
air cherub.
intermixture of air and water in
We
also sec the
lhe attributions of the
Pentagram, 1 7 8 and in an hundred other ways, all methods of
Truth which conceal important mysteries. .
Let
it not be a reproach, therefore, if we emphasise
strongly the affinity of Uranus to Scorpio.
With some aspects, the scientific inquiring side of Scorpio
Sun, and these arc trined by Luna in Virgo. It fomls
admirable
picture
r-.lore of the revolutionary phase of Uranus is found in the
nativities of Gladstone and John Bright. I 7 9 The former has
Capricornus rising and Saturn is conjoined with Ncptune.
with 2 degrees, and with Venus within 9 degrees. It is casy to
sec that the interest must be mainly human and political, for
Jupiter trInes this conjunction and is in Aries, near the cusp
of the third house.
third group we may find sensuality and passion most deeply
ality
marked.
To begin \vith men of science and philosophy, we have
three emancipating intelligences of the highest order; Coper­
.an
of the pure intelligence, introspective,
philosophical and metaphysical.
will be brought out very strongly, with others the treacherous
subtle-witted function o f that mysterious sign, while in a
151
The temperament is not very hannonious with the person­
in this case, though both are powerful ; and in this
dividuality we sec the possibility of trouble. In fact, we note
that his career
was
tumultuous, and that he would suddenly
reverse his policy in an arbitrary and, as some thought,
nicus, Newton and Immanuel Kant.
unwarrantable manner.
in the ninth house trined by Luna and only 8 degrees from
or so tempestuous, was yet simpler and clearer. Here Cancer
The first of these great men, has Virgo rising, with !\,!ercury
the
trine o f Mars. Uranus is in the third house ncar the
conjunction
impossible
of
to
'eptune, and is trined by Saturn.
It is
imagine a morc perfectly harmonious dis­
The career of John Bright, not so astoundingly successful
was rising, the Moon conjoined with Venus, close to Neptune
and Uranus is in conjunction with the Sun. Cancer and
Scorpio being friendly signs, the man was always himself and
position of the planets for intellectual and scientific emi­
attained the highest reputation for suavity and for integrity.
Sir Isaac Newton had Libra rising, giving the balanced
Uranus rising in Scorpio sextile to r\"!ercury. Mars is squared
nence.
We might also pair Dickens and Tennyson. The fomler has
judgment so requisite in scientific investigation and Uranus
by Saturn and this makes the temperament stronger than the
his own house Pisces, Jupiter himself being only 6 degrees
himself.
what broader than in the previous example; on the whole, the
and rather priggish type, Mercury suffering severely from the
himself is within the Ascendant, and is trined by Jupiter in
from the conjunction of Salurn. Here the interest is some­
difference well describes the larger aspects takco by Newton's
investigation .
In the horoscope of Kant we find Taurus rising but in 29
degrees,
so that most of the Ascendant is occupied by
personality. Hence the man's work was more important than
Tennyson, with Gemini rising, was o f a coldly intellectual
square of Jupiter. Uranus, too, is in conjunction with 1lars.
Venus is rising, sex tile to Jupiter, which is in the eleventh,
and so it is easy to understand that this is more important
than either the personality or the temperament. The fame of
Gemini. Mercury, its lord, is in exact conjunction with the
Tennyson was due to his adroitness in pleasing his sovereign,
1 78 . The five-pointed staT of magic. It is used in the ritual invocation
of spirits and forces, each poinl of the star being assigned to these
realms: (from the topmost point in clock-wise direction) Ihe realm of
pure spirit, attribUled to {he Sun; Ihc sphere of Scorpio, attributed to
the clement water; the sphere of Leo, attributed to fire; the sphere of
Taurus, attributed to earth; the sphere of Aquarius, attributed to air.
poetry.
rather than to any quality
inherent in himself or in his
Another Victorian was Sir Isaac Pitman, I 8 0 with I.ibra
179. British radical statesman and orator, horn 1 8 1 1 , died 1889.
180. Sir Isaac Pitman ( 1 8 13-1896), English educationalist, and
inventor of a shorthand system }Yhich bears his name.
152
.lleiSit'r Crowley
nsmg. Venus is nol specially strong in any way, but it is on
the cusp of thc third house, within which is r>.lercury. The
inventive genius, therdore turns naturally to developing case
in matters connected with writing, in other words, to the
Urmllu
153
another example of the cold, drcamy melancholy tempera­
ment, especially as Uranus is in the third house.
�Iore like Wagner, in another line, is Michael Angelo. Here
Pisces is rising, Mercury and Venus conjoined on the cusp,
construction of the system of shorthand which is associated
with Sol not far below them. They are trine to Uranus and
Before we proceed to the domain of art, let us look for a
moment at the nativity of Caesar Borgia. I 8 I Virgo is rising.
of nature which permits a man
unlimited quantities of the finest work.
shrewd, nature. Uranus, on the cusp of thc third house, gives
a contrast. Here Aquarius is rising, Saturn in conjunction
the moon. r..lars and Saturn being in conjunction with Leo,
9
with his name.
with �Iercury on thc cusp of the Ascendant, giving a cold,
a somewhat horrible turn to the mind, for he is squared by
we can figure to ourselves the icy. violent, unscrupulous,
qualities of the: man, while the Sun rising sextile to them
Luna. Pisces and Scorpio arc friendly; it is the ideal harmony
to turn out apparently
For a final example, Alfred de f\lusset I 8 2 offers himself as
with Sol and r>.lercury in thc tenth house, with Neptune only
degrees away_ The personality goes well with the tempera­
ment, though Venus being in Capricomus, her hated house,
and Jupiter close to the opposition of Uranus, the whole
assumes ambition, and success in attaining it.
make-up is bound t o .be of cynicism and disappointment. Thc
Chopin and Schumann. Schumann has Capricornus rising,
this is not well regulated. In spite of brilliancy of talent, even
In an, we have a brilliant trio of musicians, Wagner,
Saturn and Neptune semi-sex tile to Uranus, ncar the square
of a conjunction of Mars and Sol. There is no great warmth in
any part of this disposition, but there is no lack of harmony,
except in the sih'1lS themselves; though one may urge that
they are at least both cold. It well describes his music_
Wagner has Gemini rising, which accounts for the literary
quality in his work; even in his operas this is the case; the
square of Mars and Venus adds some violence of passion; but
genius, in spite of great achievement, one can only rank him
sadly with those who arc not quite immortals.
Uranus in Sagittarius
In the sign of Sagittarius lies much of the nature of the horse
and of the deer, timid, delicatc, proud, courageous and swift,
Only the suddenness of its action in any way resemble our
[eit-motl! is literature, not music. But he was a voluminous
typical Uranus force; but the sign itself, i f Jupiter be happily
opposition of Mars and Jupiter which explai'ns the violent
seems hard and coarse and cold in the planet. Cold, say we,
writer on all sons of subjects.
Mercury is square to an
and brilliant qualities of the man. Uranus is squared by
aspected, may have much power to overcome much that
for the cruelty of Uranus is calculated and deliberate, the
Venus, and the whole figure represents strife and turmoil.
cause of a joy no less sinister than divine, while that of rvlars
conjunction with Sol and sextilc to Jupiter is on thc whole
tarius never fails to give liveliness to the temperament; it is as
humanity, the great dramatic and artistic feeling, especially
the latter; thus we find in him . what one might humorously
call a 'reformed' Uranus, etherealised, sublimised. But of
Venus dose above the eastern horizon in her own housc, in
the most imponant feature in the figure_ It gives the intense
for pictorial effect for Wabrner's music has always a visual
value, and it assures success.
Chopin is far more like Schumann. Virgo is rising, the
Moon about to rise. Mercury sextilc to Jupiter is otherwise
not very strong. Satunl and Neptune are sex tile to Luna; it is
1 8 1 . See note 96.
is the hot cruelty of far more 'human' passion. But Sagit­
Celtic an Ascendant as Leo or Pisces, more so, in fact, than
course, as before, bad aspects and an inharmonious Ascend­
ant will weaken and corrupt these qualities. For example the
horoscope o f Queen Victoria shows arrogance and petulance,
impatience
of contradiction.
Gemini
is
rising,
a
totally
182. See note 36.
,
154
155
UrallllS
opposed sign, and Neptune is within 5 degrees o f Uranus in
Sagittarius, and Neptune is rising ani) 2 V1 degrees below him,
Venus is trinc; else had the situation been hopeless. It just
character of his philosophy. The man himself was retiring.
the seventh
house.
SalUrn
squares them, but fortunately
supplied the missing clement of fact. r.,·lercury is in the
twelfth
house,
and
not particularly strong, undoubtedly
temperament plays a much larger part than personality.
George
Eliot
agam
a
tremendous
aspect.
lienee
the
epoch·making
Jupiter in Pisces softened by the square of Venus - and there
is no conflict of any kind indicated; the work was everything.
Bismarck, again, has the lord of his
Ascendant
(Leo)
has Scorpio in the Ascendant, and Sol,
squared by Luna and very near the trine of Uranus; here is
far below the horizon. r.. tars is in Leo, trine to Venus, but
brusquerie. On the whole, it is a disposition likely to afford
Venus, r",!ercury . Uranus and Neptune are all in the cast, not
opposed by Jupiter. The result is naturally a highly confused
mass, for which no single true resultant emerges; a stormy
life, and a mixed career of joy. sorrow, failure, and triumph
are effects of this complicated chain of causes. Natura1ly, on
such a sky no eternal repose, starry, can shine; the native was
again excellent hannony, save that the �Ioon gives some
the best results, from the standpoint of a carecr.
Still more earth-shaking is the colossus Luther. Leo is
rising
once
more,
but
Sol,
Saturn
and
Mercury
arc in
conjunction of Venus, Mats and Jupiter. Thus both person­
ality and temperament arc tremendously strong and harmoni­
bound to be submitted in the end.
Sir Richard Quain t !! ) is an example of the contrary, a
ous with the other. The result we know.
placid and successful career, with no great wealth of dramatic
is rising, and Mercury in the second house, not specially
incident.
Here Leo rises, and Sol is between 1\'lars and Jupiter, within
18 degrees all lold. Venus is exactly semi-sex tile to him and
approaching Uranus which is in the fifth house. Here there is
nothing very important; but what there is, is pleasant. There
is no obstacle to overcome.
Now let us consider the horoscope of Shakespeare, with
Virgo rising. t\lercury is in Aries, and has no notable aspect�,
though it is within 6 degrees of the trine of Uranus. There IS
no planet ascending; Uranus is in the fifth in opposition to
Neptune, a world-shaking aspect; Venus is with Neptune
within 5 degrees, and sex tile to a conjunction of Saturn and
Jupiter. Here then we sec a tremendous temperament, and a
negligible personality; and we' find this diagnosis confirmed
by a study of Mr Frank Harris' admirable book on the
subject. 1 8 4
Another master-mind was that of Herbert Spencer.
I 8s
Uranus is on the exact cusp of the Ascendant, 28 degrees of
183. British physician, author of A Dictionary of Medicine, 1882.
184. The Tragic I.ife.llistory of the ."'Ian William Shakespeare, 1910.
It received a long and laudatory review by Crowley in The Equinox.
vol. I, no. !L
185. See note 27.
A far calmer figure is that of Cornelius Agrippa. I
11 6
Virgo
strong, Uranus is near the square of the Sun and within 9
degrees of the opposition of Mars.
But there is nothing
fulminating in the figure, and so we have scholarship and
deep thought without any further manifestation than the
acquisition of a great and not very well-deserved reputation
as a magician, and some books rather curious than revolution-
ruy.
Ruskin
Aquarius
is a \'ery difficult person.
rising with
Sol
.
lie has the cntleaI
.
dose to the cusp - temporary
success, no more. Uranus is squared by Saturn so that his
ideas were foolish, and Luna and �Iars close 10 Mercury arc in
opposition, making him quarrelsome and weak, violent and
obstinate, but without dear vision. A lamentable wreck of
good material!
Of course, the obvious incompatibility of
Sagittarius and Aquari us will already have occurred to the
reader. An interesting example of temperament is seen in Nell
Gwynn, with Capricornus rising, and Uranus exactly con­
joined with Neptune on the cusp of the eleventh hOllse. Here
is a tremendous force to work through friendship, as she did,
186. Henry Cornelius /\grippa (1486.1535), Counsellor to the Holy
Roman Emperor Charles V, and a\Ithor of the celebrated three books of
Occult Philosophy and Magic. which were translated into English and
published in London in 165 i .
,I /I'ull'r CrOW/I'Y
1 56
and as the Lord of the Ascendant, Saturn, is trine tu Sol, she
had the force of character to make use of it.
William 11 1 1 8 7 of England has Luna rising in Leo, trine to
t-.Jcrcury, with Sol in conjunction with Jupiter. Uranus and
Neptune are exactly conjoined - this, by the way, often
157
Uranus
in the world, arc everything to him.
all
We have, to begin with, the poet Baudelaire, who despite
persecutions,
revolutionised
French
thought,
and
by
adopting Swinburne as his spiritual first-born son, 1 9 0 revol­
utionised English thought as well; we have Louis Pasteur,
stands for Great Opportunity - and the whole figure is vcry
who revolutionised surgery in the teeth of the deadliest
King of England.
religion, the most Homeric and spectacular combat of the
favourable, so that, from a pelty princeling, he became the
�Iars is square to the Neptune·Uranus
position; no crron of his own was necessary to his success.
The Tsar Alexander 1 1 1 8 8 is a vcry remarkable type. Once
again Leo is rising, and Sol is trinc to Jupitcr, sextilc to Mars,
the two latter planets being in opposition. Saturn, 100, is
scxtilc to the Sun. On the other hand, Uranus receives no
great help from any quarter. Hence the personality of the
opposition; Huxley, who battled for science against orthodox
Victorian period; Wallace one of his principal colleagues in
the
fight;
Kruger,
who broke the power of the British
Empire, and staggered humanity by the dour fight that his
handful of burglars put up against the overwhelming hosts of
the oppressor; Grant who smashed Lee; Cicero, who smashed
everybody in sight, from Catiline to Varro; Burton, the most
man was strong and courageous, but he was brought to ruin
desperate fighter in private and in public life, that England
could not control the storm that he aroused, who shall blame
Russian winter, to die in a wayside railway station, so bitter,
by his work. However, he did at least achieve it, and if he
him, since the tempest·blast that overturned his bark was the
breath of Liberty.
ever bore;1 9 1 and Tolstoy, who went out into the snow of a
even in extreme old age with the hand of death upon his
shoulder, was his hatred of 'home' and 'comfort' and the
normal life of man.
UrmlUs it! CapriconlUs
Then we have Rosa Bonheur,t 9 2 whose life was one long
It is very pleasant to the astrologer when those rare occasions
battlc against her own femininity; and finally George III
in one succint phrase. Such an occasion is here. The explosive
which he ruled) who broke with dogged courage and endur­
of sluggish Saturn in Capricomus; and we get 'an he-goat also,
can see the fighting quality; it was his obstinate bull-dog
arise on which he can sum up the potentialities of any force
force of Uranus counteracts completely all that there may be
against whom there is no rising up'. 1 11 9 The man with Uranus
thus placed is, in Kipling's phrase, <a first-class fighting man'.
The examples of thiS arc so convincing that they need only to
(whom we must have regarded merely as a symbol of the race
ance the power of the great Napoleon. But even in himself we
stupidity
America.
be announced. The power evoked is so great that no troubles
with the personality appear to daunt it, unless they are
extraordinarily evil. The mabr1cal will of the man, his mission
that lost to his crown these United States of
Uranus i1l Aquarius
In this sign Uranus appears most clearly as the emancipator.
Aquarius is the sign of the �Ian Cherub, not so spiritual as the
Eagle, but with the clear light of reason luminous in his eyes.
187. William III (1650.1702) a Protestant Dutchman invited by the
English to replace the Catholic James II. He landed at Brixham in 1688
with a large army and was crowned the next year. He married James'
sisler, Mary, with whom he ruled as joint sovereign.
188. Alexander 11 (1818-1881), emperor of Russia, liberator of the
serfs. While Qut driving in 5t Petersburg, he was killed by bombs thrown
by nihilists who called lhemsc:lves the 'People's Will'.
189. See The Book of Lics by Aleister Crowley.
Nor is it without significance in this connection that the
Tarot trump corresponding to Aquarius is 'Hope'.l 9 3
190. The l.'rench poet Charles Baudelaire 'adopted' the English poet
a metaphorical sense.
1 9 1 . A hint at Sir Richard Burton's bi·sexuality and opc:n curiosity
in all sexual mailers, unusual in a Victorian. See no Ie 35.
192. See note 76.
in
Urrmus
;Ileister CrowJ('y
158
lIowever, the sign is too hannoniolls to the planet to
produce the great emancipator evcry time. It requires some
1 59
form�r has Uranus on the cusp of the Asccndant, with
nothmg be ncr than a semi-sex tile of Luna to assist him;
special excitement before it becomes operative in its fullest
Saturn is in opposition to Mercury. It is a feeble display.
personaJity.
Jupiter is close to Uranus near the cusp of the third house.
Lords Roberts and Wolsclcy,' 9 S we find no marked humani­
subtle yet sacred character of the humour - while Venus and
with Jupiter just under the cusp, in opposition to Saturn and
personality. Sol. too, is only 8 degrees from Uranus. A most
with no help anywhere. There is therefore nothing sufficient
revolutionary to be found in it.
we have learned to look for the revolutionary ideas which
very strong but in the third house. Jupiter is in conjunction
Wolseley has Aquarius rising with Saturn in Virgo not
clever, even, nature, likely to move hannoniously enough,
extent, and it is rendered commonplace by an casy going
Thus in the cases of the Emperor �Ia."(imilian. 1 9 4 and of
tarian or revolutionary impulse. Roberts has Pisces rising,
Mercury. Uranus is 'in prison' just within the twelfth house,
to arouse those deeper and stronger spiritual forces to which
sway mankind.
The latter, on the other hand. has Sagittarius rising, and
He has benefit of a semi-sex tile of Neptune - here is the
l\lars rising in conjunction, lend passion and power to the
fortunate figure, on the whole, blll at the same time, nothing
President Garfield ! 9 7 has Virgo rising, with �fercury not
with Uranus; Saturn has just risen. There is evidence here of a
giving him the peculiar personality, which, harmonising so
but without that quality which overturns faiths and empires.
General GordonI 9 8 is a wilder type. Aries is rising, with
it was close to the sex tile of Jupiter. Once again, however,
well above the eastern horizon. One can understand the
of feebleness and lack of unity. Sol and Mercury were rising
there is hardly sufficient force to carry them out. Uranus
particularly strong. Uranus is near the cusp of the Ascendant,
well with the temperament, brought him so much honour, as
Mars sextile to Jupiter. Uranus is 1 0 degrees only from Sol
there is no deeper force at work; the career was convenlional .
The unhappy Emperor Maximilian of �lcxico is an example
impetuous and romantic and adventurous disposition; and
there arc also indications of great emancipatory ideas. But
in Cancer; but the �Ioon is in Nadir, in opposition to Mars;
being in the twelfth house, is hampered sorely.
mere good fonune, unaided by personal strength, fails to
rising, and Mars is semi-sex tile to Jupiter, and trine to Saturn,
Uranus, too, receives no help; it is a fine illustration of how
keep a man from mischief.
There
are
two
humorists
with
this
POSition,
Du
l\taurier,1 9 6 very shallow, and Lewis Carroll, very deep. The
193. Some years after writing this senlence. crowley revised his
ideas about the Tarot. The trump he here calb 'Hope' was, in the light
of his researches, renamed 'The Star'. Sec his Th� Book of Thoth.
1 944.
194. The ill-fated emperor of t,lexico, brother of the Austrian Franz
joseph. French troops kept him on his throne. When they wert
withdrawn, the country was invaded by juarez who captured and shot
him in 1867.
195. Gamet joseph Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley (1833-1913),
British field·marshal, Commander-in-Chief of the British Army. For
Lord Robens see note 38.
196. George du Maurier (1834-1896), British illustrator. caricaturiSI,
and author of three successful autobiographical novels, the most
famous of which was Trilby.
Compare \\lith this the nativity of Joan of Arc. Scorpio is
and trine to Venus. lIere is an all-conquering personality;
Uranus giving the revolutionary idea, is content with his
achievement and the work is carried out by the ego. Hence,
to some extent its instability.
Consider a true empire·builder, Franz Josef of Austria, 1 9 9
who, from a congeries of races who detested each other
197. james Abram Garfield (1831-1881), the 20th President of the
United States, elected in 1-ofarch 1 8 8 1 , and assassin,lIcd in July.
198. Charles George Gordon (1833-1885), known as 'Chinese
Gonion'. made his name by leading the Imperial Chinese Army which
suppressed the Taiping Rebellion. 1860. I Ie was killed in Khartoum in
the Sudan during a revolt led by the Mahdi which he had been sent to
suppress.
199. Sec nOle 7 1 .
1 60
UranlH
.J !euler Crowit'Y
161
permanent injury. Uranus, too, has the sextiJc of ?Ial's. It is
ideaJistic temperament, but lacks the explosive force. Libra is
rising, and Venus is conjoined with Sol; but the square of
!\'I rs ma
kes these less effective than they might have been
�
.
w �thoul It;
Uranus, too, is in opposition to the Sun. NaturaJly
wllh such a figure, one should anticipate but second-rate
qualities. The trine of Mars and Saturn makes them efficient
'
such as they arc; he did his work right well.
situated in the tenth house that gives all its great political
n �oplatonist, has this position. Here Uranus is in conjunction
A vcry different type of emancipation i s Goethe, with
Aries is rising, Mars exalted in Capricornus. Here once more is
mutually. made a nalion sirong enough to bear the shock of
the grc.llcst war in history.
Libra is rising, giving the even judgment and sound balance
necessary for any slich work, and Venus has the semi-sex tile
of a conjunction of Sol, Luna and Saturn. She is opposed b y
Neptune, which led to certain sCI-backs, but failed to inflict
the great strength of Venus (in her beloved sign Cancer)
future to this figure.
Scorpio rising. and Mars exacted in Capricornus. trine to
Mercury and Sol. Uranus has the square of Saturn, which is
on the cusp of the Ascendant.
It is a magnificently harmonious picture, and a great one;
for with such a sign rising, and such large planets involved,
there must always be big things on the carpet.
With this compare Rossetti, a very similar mind, but less
original and less cosmic. Gemini is rising, r\'lcrcury with Luna
in the twelfth house, sextile to Venus and to Uranus. Venus
is trine to Jupiter. All this is as hannonious as Goethe's
The great sage and mystic of antiquity, Proclus,1 0 2 the
With Sol and Venus, Saturn and Jupiter are square to them.
the double gift of the gods, the preoccupation wi th great
things and the power to execute them.
i>.lclanchthon,2 0 3 the friend of Luther, i s a milder figure.
Virgo is rising, Mercury not very strong. Uranus has 'the
sextilc of Mars and Jupiter; but it takes a great deal to pull up
a weak Mercury when Virgo is rising. He was all very well in
his place, like Olcott with H.P. B1avatsky, but alone he would
never have set the Rhine afire.
Our last example is the unhappy Chatterton.204
Here
Uranus i s i n 29Y2 degrees of Aquarius, so that one is tempted
figure, but not nearly so big. The forces im!olved are all
conventional and commonplace.
Another great mind was that of H.P. Blavatsky,200 with
Cancer rising and
the i>.toon
trine to the conjunction of
Jupiter and Uranus. Sol is in the Ascendant. giving success.
But
the
character,
other
the
combination
gives
the
real force of the
drcaminess, the religious impulse and the
occult impulse all working together.
Her chief of staff, Colonel Olcott,10 1 has a much more
200. Hdena Pc:tmvna Blav.!.tsky ( 1 8 3 1 . 1 8 9 1 ) , the leading occultist
of her day. She founded (with Colonel Olcott) the Theosophical
Society in 1875. In spiu of the fun that Crowley poked at her. he
regarded her as a high adept of the grade of �Iaster of the Temple. and
her greatest work, The Secret Doctrine, as part of the foundation of his
own magical system.
201. 'He ISolov'yov] describes the Colond as a man fully fifty years
of age. of medium height, thickly built and broad, but not stout. 'nlere
wa� a large bald patch in the usual place on his head. but his face,
framed in a magnificent silver beard. was handsome and pleasant.
Moreover. his energy and the lh'diness of his movements showed that
he was far from being an old man, a description which Solov'yov caps
by asserting that the Colond posscssed great strength and sound health.
He wore glasses which, to some extent. concealed the sole defect in his
appearance, a defect which Solov'yov, quoting a Russian phrase. calls a
s�oonfu1 of tar in a barrd of honey. "One of his eyes was extremely
.
disobedIent and would turn in all directiolls, sometimes with a startling
a�d very unpleasant speed. As long as the disobedient eye remained
slIlI, you had before you a handsome, pkasant and kindly. but not
.
�spe�lally clever man, whose appearance aroused your sympathy and
mspl�ed your c�nfidence. Then suddenly something twitched. the eye
tore Itself fr�m Its place and darted off suspiciously and knavishly, and
.
See Madame R/alJ(J/sky by John
confidence Immediatdy vanished.'"
Symonds. 1959.
202. Neoplatonist philosopher of the fifth century A.D.
203. l'hilip
Mclanchthon
(1497-1560),
Professor
of
Greek
at
Wittenberg, hdpcd Luther translate the Bible and adopted his theo.
logical views_
204. Thomas Chatterton ( 1 752-1770), poet. He poisoned himself
with arsenic and opium after three days' starvation and was buried in
the paupers' pit of Shoe Lane workhouse. His collected works in three
volumes were edited by Southey and Collie in 1803.
Urarlus
.Jieisler Crowley
1 62
l G3
to relegate him to the next section, Cancer is rising, the Moon
than (hat of Blake, and Uranus is 1 2 degrees earlier than
and not much assisted by being within 1 0 degrees of the trine
however, is in close conjunction with the Sun in the tenth
imprisoned in the twelfth, Uranus squared exactly by Sol,
of Mars. Luna has a sextile of Jupiter, and no other aid of
importance. It is all feeble in the ex treme.
Pisces, but still in the ninth hOllse. The I\I00n of Swinburne,
house, and ]'\'Iars occupies the Ascendant in conjunction with
Jupiter. Uranus receives no more assistance than the semi­
sex tiles of Venus, Mercury and Neptune and the Ascendant is
evidently much stronger than the ninth house. We have a
Uranus in Pisces
On the surface, there i s not much sympathy between this
personality of extraordinary force and violence, rar more
planet and this sign. The only point which they seem to have
creative than that of Blake, but entirely wi thout inspiration
that of the will·of-the-wisp, a better word might be elusive­
The sympathy between the two poets is confined 10 the
driving force in it_ It is the precise antithesis to the aggressive­
enough to get one to appreciate the other. But in spite of the
Pisces, but this is a different kind o f quality to the secretive­
Blake's innuence in the work of Swinburne.
many men of the first-class with this position of Uranus.
duced by this position of Uranus at its worst, where it is lillie
it is completely dissolved in, and its influence spread through­
scope of Sir Ed\',rin Durning-Lawrence.2 0 (0 Here Sagittarius is
um2 0 S
of Pisces. There is fortunately one example of this in
near the cusp of the third house and can show nothing better
Here Cancer is rising with the lower edge of the Moon
disturbance is consequently well·markcd, and the personality
in common is the suddenness; but the suddenness of Pisces is
ness. Pisces is an exceptionally receptive sign - there is no
ness of Uranus. There is, of course, a great deal of subtlety i n
ness of Uranus. We shall consequently not expect to find very
in any sense in which Blake would have understood the word.
Ascendant and the posi'tion of Uranus, and this proved strong
warmth of the appreciation, there is not the remotest trace of
As an example o f the visionary quality or thought pro­
Occasionally, the dispositions of the planets may be such that
better than muddlc-headedncss, we may look at the horo­
out, the sign, and where this occurs there will .be an extension
of the occult influence of Uranus in the psychic ml'nslru­
rising, with Jupitel near the conjunction of Mars, squared by
Saturn, and in opposition to the Sun and Mercury. Uranus is
its perfection - William Blake.
touching the CIlSP of the Ascendant, semi-sex tile to Neptune
than the semi-sextile of Neptune to help him. The mental
is shown as eccentric, obstinate, violent and lacking in all
and trine to Uranus, but in opposition to Venus, which is
sense of proportion. It is a lamentable figure.
opposition of two planets is very much mitigated by the
nabbiness and sponginess of Uranus i n Pisces is Henry VI2
personality is therefore extremcly well suited to the tempera­
is in the house o f her abomination, Capricornus, sextile to
sex tile
to
Uranus.
We have often pointed out that the
An even more unfortunate example of the weakness and
07
presence of a third, trine to one and sex tile to the other. The
of England. IIere, Taurus is rising with the Moon, and Venus
ment. The general influence is, of course, watery; and Uranus
Uranus. The Moon is afflicted by the opposition of Mars, and
being in the ninth house, i( is only natural that religion, and
there is nothing whatever to set ofr against these disabilities.
particularly that extremely personal and true religion which
There
career.
any unpleasantness. Uranus, too, is in the twelfth house.
introduced him to his own blind countrymen, has the same
206. See note 3 1 .
207. Ilenry VI (1421·1471), inherited the kingdoms of England and
France as an infant. During his reign the English were driven out of
France. He was founder of both Eton and King's College. Cambridge,
and died a violent death.
lakes the form of direct vision, should be the key·note of the
Curiously enough, Swinburne, who discovered Blake and
position of Uranus. Cancer again is rising 3 degrees earlier
205. See note 103.
is
no
lack
of harmony
between personality and
temperament, there is not enough strength in either to create
1 64
Uranus
.1 /l!ISt('r Crowley
�ranus;
1 65
Thus his innucncc is not great. The Lady of the Ascendant
tI�is
religious devotion not far removed from �1e1ancholia.
Mars may be counted strong, since Mars has the trine of
being in the ninth hOllse in " Salurnian sign, we get a form of
Another unfortunate monarch of very" similar tempera­
ment was Louis XVI. The weak Virgo is rising, wi th r-.lcrcury
imprisoned in the twelfth, and r-.lars just under the cusp of
the Ascendant. J lIpilCr and Sol arc in close conjunction with
Mercury, but although these planets arc benefic, in such an
p�sition of
Leo rising, the Sun in conjunction
With Neptune, trUled by the Moon; and although squared by
!
Uranus. On the wlOle, however, lhe temperament is stronger
than the personahty ; a supreme artist wi th no interference
from any eccentricity or self-will.
We may now consider two writers, singularly sympathetic
other, Alphonse Daudet1 0 9 and Thomas Hardy.
to each
be held that lhey rather overpower the
Daudet has Scorpio rising with t-.fars in his detriment in
especially as Uranus is close to the opposition. of his COIl­
Uranus, on the other hand, has a square of Saturn, which is
Moon, this is not sufficient to make him really strong, when
cusp of the fifth house. The temperament is consequently
instance it may
planets.
A
trine aspect would have been far preferable,
junction, and though he is benefited by the trine of the
he is in a watery sign. It needs some warmer planet to kindle
Taurus in the seventh house in conjunction with the Sun.
one of the better aspects of these planets, and he is near the
vcr)' powerful and i t expressed itself natura1ly in an artistic
his fire. Hence we sec, the temperament of a mild-mannered
form.
crumbles beneath him; and when it came to the point where
the conjunction of Mercury and Mars, but otherwis
person who passed his time making watches, while his throne
his personality was put to the test, it proved entirely weak,
and unable to cope with the situation. His no less unfortu­
nate Queen has Cancer rising, too lars in the Ascendant, and the
Moon squared by Saturn. Uranus has a trine of the Sun and
Venus and is situated in the tenth house, Sol and Venus being
in the fifth house. We get a somewhat faded though voluptu­
ous
type,
through
intensely
this
quality.
pleasure-loving
The
and
causing scandal
pamphlets written against his
queen, Marie Antoinette, did
more
to bring about the
revolution than almost any other single issue.
A little belter is the horoscope of Tchaikovsky. Here
Cancer is ascendmg, and the Moon though near the cusp of
the third house, has nothing between her and the Ascendant.
Uranus has a square of Saturn, which is not altogether bad,
and a trine of Jupiter which is distinctly good, and he is also
helped by the sextile of the Sun and too lars in very close
conjunction. The Moon has no particular dignity but that of
her mundane position, and even that is not very strong. The
result is a rather insignificant man, turning out great work_
Uranus and his aspects are all-important in his horoscope.
2 08
The greatest singer of our times Adclina Patti,
has also
20M. S�� note 56.
Thomas Hardy has Libra rising with Venus in Taurus near
;
not
par�icularly strong, nor is the eighth house a1together a
deSIrable place for her. As with Daud-ct, Uranus has the
square of Saturn. This aspect will have to be taken to indicate
the clear·sighted and philosophical realism which is to be
discovered in the works of both authors.
To return for a moment, to the Middle Ages, let us look at
�h e horoscope �f Nostradamus. Here Aries is rising, with Mars
In no way asSISted by aspect or dignity. Uranus is in the
tw�Jfth house, giving a great secretiveness, and the only thing
w lch can b e called help to him is that he is pretty close to a
�
tnne of the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. The man is
accordingly much less than his prophecies. With Sol on the
cusp of the mid-heaven and Neptune occupying it, his fame
was assured, and considering the trine referred to above it has
been perhaps not altogether undeserved.
We shall now proceed to a consideration of the nativities
�f . a pair of very clever, successful and unscrupulous poli­
tICianS, one born to a throne and the other to a screw
factory, Edward VII and Joseph Chamberlain.' I 0 The late
209. Alphonse Daudet (l840-1897), French writer, known best for
Lettres de mon Moulin and his novel Sappho.
21O. Joseph Chamberlain (1836-1914) prominent British statesman
and imp�rialist, on� or Churchill's 'Creat Contemporaries'.
Aft'IMI" Crowley
1 66
King of England has
28
degrees of Sagittarius riSing, with
16)
Uranlls
to understand that the financier could not escape from the
Jupiter just touching the CliSP o f the Ascendant. It is square
reprobation o f his fellowmen.
to Uranus, but the latter has a trine of Sol, and Jupiter has a
sex tile of Venus, all of which things make for success. The
conjunction
subtlety and astuteness with which he engineered the Triple
culminating, which renders him suddenly powerful. There is
Entente and isolated Germany \v:ill 10l1'g be remembered in
no particular help to Uranus, but on the other hand he
history, as the principal cause of the Great War.
In the horoscope of Joseph Chamberlain, on the other
hand, we find little beyond chicanery and selfishness. There
is no indication of true statesmanship OT enlightened patriot­
J.P. Morgan has Leo rising and the Sun is in very close
with
l\.lercury.
lie
is
exalted
in
Aries, and
suffers no damage. The personality is far finer and nobler
than that of our last example, not nearly so concentrated
upon pure gain and in no way inhibited from undertaking
constructive work.
ism. He changed his politics as another man would change his
In France, we have already had two persons prominent in
neck·tie, and he did it so successfully that, in spite of the
the political world, and we now strike a whole grou», equally
intense hatred and distrust with which he was regarded by
prominent
the more intellectual classes of his countrymen, he always
through
managed to be on the side of the majority. Cancer is rising,
improbity. I t should be well worth our while to examine
with the Sun on the cusp of the second, Mercury on the cusp
of the Ascendant, the l\.'Ioon exalted in Taurus, square to
their nativities in detail.
General Boulanger2 I
Neptune, which gives a certain trickiness, for which indeed he
Moon in Aquarius, within 9 degrees of the conjunction of
though
all
nol
degrees
born
of
J
to
failure
_
the purple. They range
and success, probity and
here Cancer is rising with the
was celebrated. Mercury is trine to Uranus, and is exactly on
Uranus, which is on the cusp of the tenth hOLlse. Beyond a
the cusp of the Ascendant. Thus we see an extraordinary
sex tile of Sol and Venus and a semi·sextile of Neptune, which
degree of concentration on the aggrandisement of self, and
applies to Uranus rather than to Luna, there is no particular
the man'ellous skill in engineering schemes to attain purely
assistance. We find, in fact, that it was the personality of the
personal objects.
man which failed him; at the critical moment he wavered and
Our next pair should prove exceedingly instructive. lIere
the influence flows to a purely financial channel, and we see
broke down.
Contrast
him
with
the great Gambetta,2 I 4
who
has
emphasis laid upon the fact that Pisces is the house of
211
and J . Pierpoint
Jupiter. The pair consists of Jay Gould
2
1
2
Morgan.
The former has Gemini rising with Mercury just
S..:orpio rising and Mars in his own house Aries, quite close to
below the cusp of the Ascendant, very strong in his own
junction with Venus in her exaltation but in opposition to
house \vith a trine of the Moon and Saturn-. This is a very
Jupiter. The personality appears extraordinarily forceful -
cold and heartless combination. There is no warmth from any
source. The Sun himself is imprisoned in the twelfth house
and forms a square with Uranus. It is the very picture of a
greedy,
Venus
calculating,
cold·blooded,
unscrupulous financier.
and Jupiter being in the second house turn the
affections towards money, al)d assure its gain. The affliction
of Uranus removes all trace of constructive intelligence from
that planet, and as he is situated in the tenth house, it is easy
2] ] . Se:e: note 48.
212. Sec note 4.
the conjunction of the Sun and Mercury. Saturn is rising
within
7 degrees of the trine to Mars. Uranus is in can·
213. George Ernest .Jean Marie: Boulanger • •'rench gener,,1 and
politician. born 1837. lie foughl successfully in various wars. was
appointed War Minister in 1886, and resigned the following year. lie
was taken off the active list for insubordination. entered politics and
made it obvious that he was intending to establish a dictatorship.
Failing to seize his opportunity in 1889. he committed suicide on the
grave of his mistress in Brussels in 1 8 9 1 .
2 ] 4 . Leon Gambetta (1838·1882), Fre:nch statesman. who opposed
Napoleon 111 and declared the Third Republic. When Paris was besieged
by the ]'russians in 1870. he escaped by balloon and organised
resistance in the provinces.
168
A It,isler Crv wley
the temperament not so markably so. In fact, his work was
an
1 69
Urmllis
obvioLls one. It was merely that of rallying the French in
the hour of their defeat, an idea which might have occurred
to anyone. The amazing encfb'Y and success with which he
carried out his task an: due to the great power of the
Ascendant and the good aspects o f its lord. It will be noted,
of course, that the affliction of Uranus Jed in this instance to
a manifestation upon the material plane - violent death.
The three very commonplace politicians arc Presidents
whith comes to a man, as an Irishman or a philosopher might
say 'through no fault of his own'.
The last of our group will be found to remind us far more
of Joseph Chamberlain than of any other. It is Robespierre.
Here Aquarius is rising, Saturn just under the cusp of the
Ascendant and Uranus a little below him. Saturn has the
semi-sextile
of Venus and the square of I\lercury, which
indicates a sllccessful and plausible lawyer with a scnse of
reality, but no load of scruple sufficient to hinder his march
Carnot, Faure and Loubct.2 1 S Carnot has Capricornus rising
toward power. Uranus receives only the doubtful assistance
planet is ascending except the latter. There is consequently
tenth house, in his own house Sagittarius, trined by Mars, we
with Saturn, scmi-scxtilc to Mars and trine to Uranus. No
great harmony between the personality and temperament,
but there is no development of any extraordinary force.
There is success but only ordinary success.
President Faure has Libra rising and Venus is within seven
dcgrees of the conjunction of Uranus. Venus is squared by
Saturn
and
Uranus by Jupiter, and though there is no
particular lack o f unity involved in these configurations, they
arc not strong and the presence of Mars in the Ascendant,
would seem to outweigh them. There is energy and capacity
shown, but once again , no very great tendency towards any
development of the Revolutionary qualities o f Uranus.
Emile Loubet is an even softer type. That he should have
permitted himself to be publicly smacked upon the face at a
race-course is not indicative of a force of per}wnality such as
'
cornmands umversaI respect, more parucu1a rIy 1' 0 a ruIer. "
The passive and easy-going Cancer is rising, the l\'loon is
.
.
of a semi-sex tile of the Moon, and though Jupiter is in the
can only regard this as adding executive force to his ambition
without making, in any way, a harmonious combination with
it. Here is a picture, one may almost say a clinical picture, of
a cold, harsh, overbearing, ambitious, unscrupulous man, and
so, as in all the cases that we have been considering, we find
the clearest possible wi tness of history through the truth of
astrology.
Uranus in the Twelve Houses of/leaven
In dealing with Uranus generally and in his position in the
signs it has been necessary to emphasise his interior effect, his
influence
upon
character,
his position in the houses of
heaven, though still to some extent important in this regard,
is less so than his external effect.
Having
defined
Uranus
as
the
interior,
subconscious,
touching the cusp of the Ascendant, with the lower edge o f
magical will of the native, so far as it refers to himself, it
Sun and Venus. She has the trine of Uranus and this assures
follows that this planet as applied to the non-cgo will
represent its will. Uranus may consequently be callcd the
speaking. It also assures success, but that kind of success
crudely as fortunate and unfortunate. At one time the native
her silver orb, and she i s almost exactly in opposition to the
that general harmony o f character of which we have been
215.
Marie Francois Sadi Carnot (1837 .94) became President of the
Republic in 1 887 and remained in office until he was Slabbed by an
anarchist on 24 June 1894. Emile Loubet (1 838-1920) was I'resident
from 1899 to 1906. For the luckless President Faure see nOle 150.
216. The smack on the face was from a virulent anti·Dreyfusard.
President Loubet, who succeeded Faure in 1899, re-opencd the Dreyfus
case.
planet of destiny. It is consequently very shallow to class him
may be in complete harmony with his surroundings and he
will naturally describe himself as 'lucky'. At another timc he
will be entirely out of unison and complain accordingly of his
misfortune. Either view is, of course, prejudiced and un­
worthy of a philosopher. There is, however, no doubt that
Uranus more than any other planet, produces the most
extraordinary vicissitudes. Sometimes he may occasion death,
1 70
Urallus
. I /ei.fter Crowley
but not often. His force is too vital, and onc might also say
spectacular, to bring about anything so banal as the mere fall
of the curtain. Where he docs bring death, it is usually of a
catastrophic and tragic kind, but for initiating critical events
in the career and for determining the whole tone thereof, he
has no equal. The influence of Neptune is so subtle and
obscure that even though it be morc truly profound it docs
171
To return from this digression, leI us repeat that ule actual
effects of Uranus upon the career of the native will depend
almost exclusively upon his mundane position. The exception
to
this rule will be in the case of his possessing some
important aspect to the ruler of the sign upon the cusp of
any given house. Instances of such action are given in the
chapters upon the aspects of the various planets. Our present
not strike the eye in the same way. The tragedies of the soul
purpose IS to demonstrate the exact effects of the mundane
are invisible, except to the eye of the poct and the philos­
positions.
opher.
The incidence of the operation of Uranus depends entirely
upon the hOllse in which he is situated. In his case, as in that
of Neptune, the problem is not complicated by any question
of the sign upon the cusp of the house, because these two
planets are beyond the zone of the Sacred Seven2 1 7 and do
not possess the same close correspondences with the signs as
the lesser planets. Pertaining as they do to the operations of
the inscrutable Will of the All-Father, they have not the samc
dependance upon the lesser laws of the universe. The Seven
are much more mechanical and calculable in their action.
Perhaps it would be at least useful as an explanation of
Urallus ill the First House
The essential dignity of Uranus should first be regarded by
reference to the sign in which he is situated and to his
aspects, before his influence in the house is investigated; for
his nature must be modified by these circumstances.
pan·bus,
Ceteris
however, he will be more influential in the Ascend·
ant than most other planets for the reason that he is not tied
down as they are by zodiacal considerations.
People who have him in this position are nearly ilways of
an extremely independent and original turn of mind. Their
point of vicw is almost always different and radically so from
certain difficulties in interpreting the action of the two
that of the mass of mankind. Such people are invariably what
greater planets, were we to suggest that they are not so
their friends call 'characters'. But when this is at all accentu­
simple and constant as the others. It is quite conceivable that
ated
from time to time they receive new and varying influences of
conventional a certain antagonism may develop and he may
force from the higher planes, and if so, however far we might
be described as eccentric or even something stronger.
advance in the science of astrology pure and simple, there
would always be a possibility of our calculations being upset
by some such cause of disturbance. This hypothesis is, to a
certain extent, supported by the already discovered charac­
teristics of both these planets. In each case there is a peculiar
uncertainty about their action which we, living as we do,
mostly upon 1he material plane and upon a planet compara­
tively close to the Sun, are apt to call tricksy, or at least
unaccountable.
217. The seven planets of old - Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter,
Saturn, Sol and Luna. In the language of initiation, 'seven' stands for
the highest stage, out of which comes the 'eighth', or ·height'. In the
Christian �lysteries, the number 8 was attributed to Christ. See A leister
Crowley and the Hidden God by Kenneth Grant.
or
when
the surroundings of the native are ultra­
In any case, from the point of view of common sense,
these criticisms are usually justified. In all ordinary circum­
stances, the best way to get on is to follow the line of least
resistance, and if a person with Uranus in the Ascendant even
does such an obvious thing as this, it does not strike him in
that light at all . He regards it as a wonderful discovery of his
super-subtle intelligence, and in any case is not likely to carry
it out with any persistence. For the rule of the Uranian is
above all to strike out a new line. He is in nearly every case a
thoroughly
emancipated
thinker.
Conventional
ideas
are
quite beneath his notice; tradition has no weight with him; he
always goes to the root of the matter, decides everything on
first principles and even with regard to these principles is
more inclined to idealism than to realism. To take a concrete
1 72
Ural/us
.1 leistl'r Crowley
cxample, it will appear quite obvious to him that the only
possible way of running the world is by mutual forbcarance
and love. lie i s then apt to assume that it is so run. This
quality is likely to be manifest whenever 'Uranus acts upon
the mental plane, so that in the third and ninth houses its
effect is as conspicuous as when in the Ascendant.
The general effect of this tendency of Uranus is to make
the native a solitary, not in the least as Saturn docs, as it were
1 73
had warts on the nose. Another example of conspIcuous
success is Disraeli; here the eccentricity shows itsclf by his
fantastical dandyism, but thc extreme power of the person­
ality is demonstrated by the fact that it was only a few years
before his elevation to the position of First Commoner in thc
British Empire tllat the politicaJ disabililies of Jews had been
removcd.
In the case of Robert Louis Stevenson, the eccentricity
by nature, but on the contrary entirely against nature. The
shown by Uranus rising is modified to shyness and gentleness
ship of his fellows and his life is rendered only too often
is trined by Venus. Herbert Spencer shows more the recluse
Uranian detests solitude, seeks the sympathy and companion­
extremely unhappy by the failure of his contcmporaries to
sympathise with his ideas. It must not be supposed, however,
of character. This is readily explained by the fact that Uranus
in his nature; i t will be remembered that he had plugs made
for his ears, so that he should not be distracted by the
that he is l i kely to find this sympathy even with other
conversation of people at the dinner-table.
company for the time refreshing, becausc of the originality of
the fact that he would seek mental relaxation by endeavour­
Unmians. I-Ie will like meeting such people and find their
their ideas, but those ideas will probably not be the same as
In the case of Sir Isaac Newton, again, the reader will recall
ing to balance peacock's feathers upon his nose and that
his own and even where they are he will most probably be
people who discovered him engaged in this manner described
him extremely attractive to the hero-worshipping type of
names of those people. In nearly all cases Uranus stamps the
Yct all the time a serpent will be gnawing at his heart and he
inspire the average individual with a kind of dread.
those who adore him do not understand him. In this he will
and destructive tum. Add to his name those of Robespierre
jealous. His striking pcrsonality is, however, likely to make
individual and he will orten find brief solace in their caresses.
will say to himself that he is utterly lonely because even
him as eccentric. One docs not, however, remember the
face with some subtle peculiarity of a kind that lends to
Occasionally, as with Cromwell, Uranus takes a menacing
bc right, on the surface. His error arises from the fact that he
and Annie Besant,2 1 8 but these lacked Cromwell's capacity,
sent into that age as one born out of season to implant in it
almost as soon as the success of their revolutionary efforts.
is really out of touch wi th the spirit of his age. In fact he is
the seeds or those ideas which may be good and generally
accepted a hundred years later. I-Ie must learn to be content
and the clement of destruction began to manifest itself
Cromwell's innuence at least lasted while his life did.
The student will note the very peculiar facial appearance
to plow a lonely furrow, for the benefit of those who are to
of Mrs Besant, especiaJly the lips, while in the cases of
Occasionally Uranus is sufficiently strong to overpower, at
also referred to Carlyle's account of his personal appearance
follow. He must sow in tears that others may reap in joy.
least temporarily, the spirit of the age itself. Where great
executive ability is shown and where the general horoscope
Robcspierre, the nose is equally characteristic. The student is
and character.
Those persons ,"lith Uranus rising should never lose hope.
predicts greatness, the native may become suprcme in his
They are inclined to pass from action to reaction with a
not only the king on bchalf of Parliament, but Parliament
the
section of the universe. Thus we find Cromwell overthrowing
itself as soon as i t showed divergence from his own ideas. It
may here be remarked that Uranus rising sometimes declares
itself by facial characteristics. It is well known that Cromwell
strain of suddenness and periods of absolute despair may be
penalty
which
they
pay
for their exhilaration, but
fortune for them is ever on the tum. When things are at the
218. Sec note 105.
. l /f'u'/er Crowley
174
worst, they mend as suddenly
as
they collapsed. As a rule it is
not good policy for slich people to allempt to fit themselves
in with their surroundings; failure is only too likely. It is a
wiser policy to accentuate their unlikeness to the rest of
mankind, so that they may achieve the toleration which is
ultimately extended to all those who, while they are dis­
trusted as being c"idcndy not of the herd, are yet respected
and feared by the sheep. The unknown animal may be a wolf
or a lion!
Urallus
175
wrecked the monarchical system in England may be regarded
osition.
�
Sir Richard Burton 2 0 is another case in point. lie made
as directly due to this
very large sums of money rrom time to time by the sale of his
books. He netted twelve thousand pounds sterling straight off
ghts alone, yet rortune constantly
from The Arabian Ni
played traitor to him. He was anomer of those rich men who
are always hard up. Stranger still is the case of Byron, who
received
thousands
upon
thousands of pounds from his
publisher, �turray, yet who felt so bitterly the slings of
poverty that he sent Murray a bible for a present with the
Uranus in the Secolld /lollse
With regard to material possessions of the nature of rcady
sentence 'Now Barabbas was apub/ishcr', for 'robber'.
Uranus may be considered fortunate or otherwise vcry much
always in actual extremity, ever on the point of being sold
money,
earned
money and money acquired i n business,
in accordance with the nature of the business. He is certainly
The same story is true of Balzac, but with him he was
out, although receiving at frequent intervals sums almost
bad for steady businesses, such as that of the grocer, or the
beyond the dreams of avarice.
baker, but for businesses which are gambling from first to
It is not necessary to describe Uranus as malefic to explain
last, likc publishing, he may not be so bad. For the sudden
these faCls. It is aUjJart of the psychology of gambling. When
vicissitudes which he brings arc all in the day's work if YOLI
are playing poker, and to win a jack-pot with four threes
against an ace fully compensates for a hundred hand that
were not wonh drawing to. People with this position of
Uranus go on making nothing for a long time, and then make
a lot. Very likely they lose or spend it almost as soon as they
get it. But in whatever straits they may find themseh'es, they
yOll sit down and do a week's work and receive a year's
income in return for it, i t is only natural that you should feel
wildly optimistic, and when for the next week's work you
only get six month's income, you become unreasonably
depressed, 'Easy come, easy go' too is a very good rule about
money. It is only natural that one should value a little what
one obtains without great effort. fo.lore than this, extrava­
never actually starve. Something always turns lip at the last
gance is definitely one of the Christian virtues. 'Take no
state of things will be extremely
how they grow'. 'Arc ye not of more value than many
moment. For people whose personality is conventional, this
depressing; the artist's
temperament or the gambler's temperament 01: the tempera­
ment of the religious man soon accomodates itself to the
fact. We have fOllr vcry striking examples of people with this
position. Edward VII, until he became king, was in constant
straits for money. He gambled desperately and pllt himself in
the hands of the money lenders. It will be remembered that
his difficulties even led him to accept invitations which one
in his position should hardly ' have done. The Tranby Croft
scandal and the Gordon Cumming triall • 9 which nearly
2 1 9 . Colonel Gordon Cumming of the Scots Guards. a prominent
social figure in the Prince of Wales's set, was accmed of cheating at
baccarat, played at Tranby Croft. lie sued his accusers for slander and
thought for the morrow', said the Saviour; 'consider the lilies
sparrows.' 'Freely have ye received, freely give'. All direct
incitements to unthrift.
Sometimes,
however,
these qualities are modified and
appear rather as a tendency to adventure money i n pursuance
lost the case, thereby ruining socially himself and his family. The case
caused great scandal because the I'rinee of Wales, afterwards Edward
VII, was one of the gamesters and was called to give evidence in the
case. Th.e Prince was honorary colonel of a German cavalry regiment,
and the Kaiser, Wilhelm II, who had a continuous feud with Queen
Victoria and her son, as his senior officer, officially rebuked him for
gambling with his juniors.
220. See notes 35 and 1 9 1 .
Uranus
.,I /('uft'r Crawil'),
176
o f a great idea; thus, Sir Isaac Pitman was constantly in the
direst straits for cash, not because he failed to earn it, or
because he squandered what he had, but because with him
every interest was subordinated to that of establishing his
In life, it is always necessar)' to play the game according 10
the rule, bllt there are many games and in some of them the
rules arc that there are no niles. If you have Uranus in the
second house, try and select one such game for your business.
system of shorthand.
Those
business
people
with
this
position
who arc engaged in
of an ordinary and conventional kind must be
constantly on the watch
for altenations of fortune. I t is
particularly when everything appears to be going well that
disaster is likely to fall upon the native, and it will usually be
from the most unexpected quarters. Every kind of insurance
against this type of calamity should invariably be made.
When disaster has actually occurred, there is no occasion
to be down-hearted. 1t is, as a rule, not best to attempt to
meet the storm during its height. Wait for a lull and take the
ball on the rebound. People with this position of Uranus very
often have a strong premonition as to whether any business
which they may undertake will tum out successfully. This is
much more reliable than similar psychic faculties usually are,
and it should be followed. Never put a business proposition
before a man unless you can do so wi.th a kind of interior
confidence that he will agree. All those forms o f business in
which the element of chance most enters, are likely to suit
the temperaments of the native. The scientific character of
Uranus makes it probable that the exploitation of invention
or the manufacture of chemicals or even the backing of
research might prove fortunate. Similarly, the influence of
Uranus upon goveming bodies of various kinds makes it
suitable for the native to link his financial fortunes with
those of such corporations. There is a vcry unfortunate
tendency to irregularity in Uranus, where that planet is set to
rule things which depend cOlirely upon strict adherence to
conventional order, such as book-keeping, where the quality
Uranus i,1 the Third House
This is one of the most interesting mundane positions which
Uranus can hold.
adventures that can occur on tlle physical plane is after all
ratller limited, and there is such a tendency to monotony,
but the mind knows no such restrictions. Uranus in the third
house, which primarily governs the intellect almost invariably
produces the most extraordinary effect. One may say that its
empire is practically without limit. There will certainly nevCr
be any blind adherence to convention and in such horoscopes
as indicate general weakness, the nativities of common·place
people, Uranus may be expected to stand for eccentricity of
thought, just as in the Ascendant I.e stood for eccentricities
of personality. When he is badly aspected and also if there are
no planets between him and lhe Ascendant, this influence
may be so accentuated as lO constitute actual mental disturb·
ances, or even disease. But of course such cases arc excep·
tional. In the average case, however, we need expect no more
than curious and unusual tendencies o f the mind with regard
to its occupation, and also with regard to the manner of its
thought, the logical processes are likely to be very dissimilar
from those of ordinary people. A somewhat extreme example
of
the
effects
position
is
Sir
Edwin
Dlirning­
foolish problem of the authorship o f Shakespeare's plays. But
directed in saner channels would have constituted superlative
temperament
cashier whose horoscope was like his in that respect.
this
there can be no question that the same qualities o f mind
ture. Such things bore them by what appears their triviality.
To illustrate what we mean, a banker engaged in negoti.
of
Lawrencc,2 2 1 who devoted amazing ability and energy to the
distinction.
ating war loans might congratulate himself on having this
position o f Uranus, but he would be very unwise to engage a
Browning says: 'Our interest is on tlle
dallgerolls edge of things'. The number of accidents and
of imagination is out of place. People with this position arc
probably quite incapablc of calculating their weakly expendi.
1 77
We find once more such a mind attached to the criminal
in the case of Caesar Borgia,2 2 2 whose
intrigues stand out in the Middle Ages with overwhelming
221. See note 3 1 .
222. See nOle 96.
Urll1lltl
A lt'isler Crowh'Y
178
1 79
force. In all history there is hardly an equivalent example o f
extraordinary character of his mind. In this one respect he
combination subtle and profound.
of the human intelligence, Shakespeare and Dante appear
lIere we have extreme simplicity and piety of disposition,
were those of their period. Goethe was much more cosmic
seers, and, as it turned out, to executive power of a high
heart so fully as the former and was not so exalted a mystic
quality of the mind. There were hundreds of other people
He anticipated the modern spirit. The same unusual quality
brain power misapplied. His imagination was immense and h i s
Another mind no less extraordinary is that of Joan of Arc.
combined with a mind equal in scope to that of the greatest
order. The essential factor in her greatness is of course the
equally good and equally strong, but unless she had been
fitted to apprehend the operation of superior claims to the
intellectual she could not have saved France. Here we see
Uranus in his best avatar; he enlarges, emancipates, revol·
utionises. We should also note the tremendous opposition
may be said to have no rival whatever. To the true observer
commonplace when compared with him. Their limitations
than either of them. If he did not understand the human
as the latter, he was yet more prophetic than either of them.
of mind is also to be seen in Durer. Almost everv other artist
of whom we can think has what we may cIIII fal�ily relations
with others. Leonardo and Raphael and Michael Angelo and
Rembrandt are much more like each other than Durer is like
any one of them. He thought, and with an artist that is the
which he excites on the part of minds not tuned to his
same as saying that he saw, in a manner entirely unique.
very characteristic of Uranus, when well.dignified, especially
house, Uranus docs not operate on so grand a scale. In the
vibrations. This quality of inspiration, as we may call it, is
With regard to the lesser indications afforded by the third
by such aspects as the squares and opposition of Saturn and
matter of writings, for exampk, he is not likely to" produce
In matters of science, which has been for the last century
the crystallisation of the mind which produced them, as in
trined to and sextiles of the Sun.
the principal means through which the emancipating thought
any wonderful effect, except in so far as the writings may be
the cases o f Goethe and Durer for drawing is a kind of
the physical plane, Uranus is particularly
writing cited above. There is a tendency rather to some
with this position. It is to be noted that the personality of
Dr Wallace in his old age took up with the ideas with regard
c('lntrasted wi th such as have Uranus rising. It was only the
keeping with his former eminence in science.
manner. In this connection, too, we should mention Goethe,
probably stand for trouble and annoyance. Letters are likely
the transition; he was the first poet who ever understood the
the world whom the writer would have wished. In the matter
manifests upon
good and powerful. We find Louis Pasteur and Dr Wallace1 2 3
eccentricity and trickery. It may be due to this position that
both these men was quite conventional; they arc to be
to
mind which was exalted through work in so exceptional a
who was in one sense the pioneer of science. I-Ie represents
astronomy and spiritualism which were quite out of
In the case of the average man, Uranus in this house will
to mi.scarry ilnd even fall into the hands of the last person in
importance to humanity of the scientific method. Previous
of brothers and sisters, once more, the indication is unfavour·
the other hand, welcomed science wi th open anns. However
least very queer in every way. No kind of harmony with such
bards rather resented the introduction of precision. lIe, on
this
may
be,
there can be no question as to the very
223. Alfred Russel[ Wallace (1823.1913), naturali$t. In 1858, whik
lying ill in the �Ioluceas, the idea of the evolutionary theory of man
and animals occurred to him. He transmitted it to Charles Darwin who
was just about 10 publish his Origin of Species. Shortly afterwards. a
paper by the two mcn on the subject was read to the Linnean Society
in London.
able. It may mean in bad cases that one of them is mad or at
relations is to be expected, and the nati\c will probably do
well to avoid them as much as possible.
In all matters of short journeys and communications of a
minor nature generally, there is the same feeling of un­
certainty and unrest. The native will probably be unable to
rest; he will flit about from place to place, never knowing
where he may be from one day to another. There will always,
l leis/f'T Crowle),
Urallus
too, be misunderstandings and confusions, with regard to all
thai line of life for which his parents designed him, when he
180
.
such affairs.
There is a special application to what we have said about
the quality of the mind. In most cases when lhe turn is
181
has this position of Uranus. Everyone of the people whom we
arc considering has this clement of disturbance.
Shakespeare
ran
away
from
home; Joseph
Smith1 2 S
toward science or religion, there will be found a fascination
created immense trouble in his township; Bismarck broke
above, with the exception of Pasteur, there has been a strong
did Bulwer Lytton. Rhodes spent most of his life and died
for occult subjects. It will be noted that in evel)' case cited
away entirely from the position of his early environment; so
inclination to dive into the unknown. This being the case
in a foreign land. The lives of Chopin and of Petrarch were
one might think so largely occupied with other matters, we
in distant dimes, and besides was totally out of sympathy
total contents being less, there is more room for development
where, out of the world' and several others expressed magni.
where the mind has been of such extraordinary calibre and
may assume that in the minds of more ordinary calibre, the
of such ideas. This, on the whole, is not to be regarded as
entirely fortunate, for the study of the occult is always
spt:nt, so to speak, in exile. Baudelaire passed much of his life
with the idea of home. His prose poem 'Anywhcre, any­
ficently the nostalgia indicated by this position.
One may also see traces of the same thing in the paintings
dangerous, unless the mind is based so broadly upon general
of J.�I.W. Turner. Such gorgeous and Oamboyant colouring is
obsessed. The lure of the unknown is terrible, and unless the
poetry to the gentle sunshine of France. From England one
native
Turner is more suggestive of Algeria.
knowledge that there is no dangcr of i t being upset or
path of the student is fully lighted, i t is likely to cause the
to follow false trails, in which case life may be
ruined. 'Narrow is the way and strait is thc gate and few they
he that find it.'2 2 4
Uranus i'l the Fourth House
Uranus in the fourth house possesses no such importance in
as unsuited to the grey skies of England as Baudelaire's exotic
can expect Constable and Whistler;2 2
6
the extravagance of
Examples of domestic disquietude caused by this position,
the undesirability of remaining in the home, is shown not
only by Lytton (mentioned above in another connection, but
now
in
regard
to his unhappy domestic broils) but by
Alexander VI22 7
who lacked conspicuously that sublime
moulding the character or mind as in the first, third or ninth.
repose which one would naturally attribute to his position as
always the case with the planet, his opcration is much better
monarch were as Froude 1 2 8 showed, not at all due to his
It seems to be busy with more material affairs, and as is
the vicar of Christ, and by Henry VIII. The troubles of this
on the higher than on the lower.
With regard to the father, there is likely to be any amount
of trouble, It is not unlikely that he may commit suicide or
become mad. In any case, he will be a very queer character
and it is improbable that the native will get on well ....�th him.
The house will in no case be a good environment. To go away
from one's house in an astrological sense, does not necessarily
or always mean to quit the locality, i t may imply what is
after all a much more radical departure, a change in the mode
of life from thai which might have been expected from the
environment of infancy. A child is not likely to succeed in
225. See nole 33.
226. Sec note 7.
227. Crowley believed that Alexander VI, the brilliant but apolaustic
prelate, was a previous incarnation of himself. The accusations of
murder, incest and piracy, made this pope especially appealing to him.
One of Crowley's trusurro possessions was a gold sequin which had
been struck by Alexander: on one side was his papal and family arml,
on the 01her the Gospel story or the miraculous draught of fi�hes.
Crowley used thh coin as his 'disk' or talisman in his magical operations
for getting gold.
228. James Anthony t"roude ( 1 8 1 8·1894), English hislorian,
disciple and biographer of Carlyle. His History 0/Erlg/and from the Fall
of 1V0isey to the Deft!at of tht! Spanish Armada ( l 854-1870)
224. Matlhew 6. v.14.
apologia for Henry VIII.
was an
A/cisler Crowley
182
Uranus
own temperament; they sprang entirely from the necessity in
which he
found himself of establishing his dynasty. This
1 83
With regard to the other matters indicated by the fourth
house, it may be stated, as a general rule that the native is
unfortunate monarch has been shamefully misjudged by the
unthinking. It is too often forgotten that he was the rirSl
likely to be innuenced by people much older than himself
upon the throne of England. Every single one of the inter­
connected with governing bodies or large corporations.
monarch since Edward III who had any sort of secure scat
vening monarchs had been involved in civil war, with the
brief exception of Ilcnry Vl 1 9 and the trouble which had
brought England into ruin, laid waste her fairest provinces
and illso by people of great importance or engaged in affairs
The fourth house also indicates the end of the matter, and
here the caprice of Uranus is particularly manifest. All of the
concerns
of
the
native
are
likely
to
tenninate
in
an
and slain hcr nohlest sons were entirely dynastic in character.
unexpected and probably a dramatic manner. Affairs may
result of England's complete exhaustion, and it was pre­
almost catastrophically. Whether this last word is to be
His father, Henry VlI, had only obtained his throne as the
eminently the duty of the King of the nation to see that no
drag for a considerable period and then come to a head
interpreted
in
a
favourable
or
unfavourable
sense
will
further trouble of this sort arose. All the policies of Henry
naturally depend upon the directions to Uranus and transits.
policy of having a son to succeed him. As we shall see in
i�
which governs offspring, and this position was unfavourable,
E �actly what form these may take will depend upon many
caused eternal turmoil in the affairs of the State, which is, so
placed - his direction and his transits. To take a concrete
unfavourable
mean aphasia, since Gemini is particularly connected with the
VIII were consequently, and rightly, subservient [Q the one
another paper, Saturn was on the cusp of the fifth house,
but the presence of Uranus in the fourth was even worse. It
one
may
say,
the
house
for the
end
of
the
of the
King
and it was also
matter, which is also
governed by the fourth housc. So indeed it turned out. None
of his three children, though they occupied the throne
The close connection of Uranus with the will indicates that
some cases, advancing age may bring with it certain
ailments of such a nature that the will is interfered with.
thmgs. For example, the sign in which Uranus happens to be
example if Uranus were in Gemini, an arniclion of him might
organs
of speech, while if he were in Capricornus, the
tendency might be for paralysis of the lower limbs. It is
successively, was able to continue the dynasty, which accord­
unnecessary in this place to enumerate all the possibilities
example could possibly be found of the fatal innuence of
il1-heahh.
would, in all probability, have been unable to score even a
of Uranus, so much as when he is in such houses as the eighth
ingly passed to a remote branch, not even English. No better
Uranus at his worst. I-lad it not been for the trine of �Iars, he
which
are reserved for the special chapter dealing with
Sudden and violent death is not indicated by this position
temporary and apparent success.
or twelfth.
His early environment was evidently very unsuited to him; he
arc fond of adventure and enterprise. Anything settled in
The case of Theodore Roosevelt is also very instructive.
was extremely delicate and threatened with very serious
diseases so that his medicill advisers were afraid that he would
not survive adolescence. All this trouble disappeared as soon
as he got away from home and adopted that free, open-air
life which he subsequently made so famous.
People with this posItIon often possess the 'wander.lust',
�
the r lives do � s no.t .appeal to them. They should not struggle
.
IspOSitIOn, but endeavour to hannonise it, so far
agamst thIS d
as may be with their general welfare.
Uranus in the FIfth House
Uranus in the fifth house is not at all favourable, so far as
.
229. The most popular of Engli5h kings, Henry V came to the throne
in 1 4 1 3 won the battle of Agincourt in 1 4 1 5 and died in 1422.
children arc concerned. A!> a general rule there arc none, but
where this is not the case, either the first-born is destroyed
by some accident of gestation or its non-viability or it turns
Urallus
A/euter Crowley
184
out
very
peculiar
in
character.
They
arc
likely
to
be
known as
'3
185
taste for low company', and it i s certain that the
native will never find any pleasure in the ordinary an1Use·
extremely independent and difficuh to manage, and must be
ments of his own class. Dinners and dances will bore him to
genius or something very like it, and in order to bring out
of the city in which he lives and exchange his views of life
treated accordingly. It is quile possible that they possess
their best qualities, it is necessary to give reason for the
course of action taken much more than would be the case
with ordinary children. It is not sufficient to give the reason
'because I say so', This advice is not intended to imply
distraction; he will prefer to wander about congested districts
with loafers or policemen.
Addiction to drugs or drink is not shown so strongly as
when Neptune occupies this house. It is only to be looked for
when Uranus is in a watery sign or afflicted by the Moon.
indulgence. The child would be apt to regard it as an insult.
When it docs occur, it is likely to be marc violent and fatal
respect and affection. Such children should be treated as
purpose, a desperation about this planet which Neptune docs
What is wanted is the establishment of a feeling of mutual
responsible beings and appeal made to their better natures.
With regard to the pleasures of life, morc particularly those
involving the question of sex, Uranus exercises a very full
influence. There seems to be no limit to the violence of the
temperament indicated. It is not so capricious and fantastic
as when Neptune is in this house, but it is more passionate
and violent and it is more likely to lead to violations of
conventionality.
With
some
people this may
amount to
crime. The affections are subject, in any case, to sudden and
constant changes of the spirit of revolt. against conventional­
ity and even against the bonds of love itself will be extremely
strong. It does not necessarily follow that the irregularity of
than in the case of Neptune, for there is a continuity of
not possess, and where he turns to evil, he is far more to be
feared.
In the best condition, the unusual naturc of the heart's
love
will
show
itself
in
mystic
longings. This is to be
distinguished from the preoccupation of mystical subjects
given by Uranus in the first, third or ninth, just as the mind
differs
from
kananda,2 3 o
the heart.
Coleridge, Dickens, Swami Vive­
Savonarola2 3 I
and Luther all had this pre­
disposition, and it is to be contrasted with the mystical
speculation of Goethe, who had it in the third house, and
with the mystical aspirations of Blake, who had it in the
ninth. In the one case, it is the mind which was interested; in
the vita sexualis will imply the upholding of any unusual
the other, the soul. But with the five people mentioned
tional and his violations of rule may cause him extreme
vcry peculiar fonn which this took in Savonarola is explained
theories. The mind of the native may be perfectly conven­
above, it is the affections of the heart that are involved. The
mental disturbance and regret. Whether this is so or not will
elsewhere by the aspect of Venus, but the sex irregularity of
their rulers and aspects.
will refer to the general remarks upon the subject made
caprice and extravagance will be evident. Very often such
hardly realize how startling it must have been in the Middle
depend principally upon the first, third and ninth houses,
With regard to other pleasures, the same tendency to
pleasures will take an undesirable form. The fifth house itself
is
connected
with
gambling,
in
so
far as gambling is
undertaken for excitement and dissipation rather than with
any clear idea of gain; and when Uranus is there situated, he
will accentuate the tendency of the native to indulge in this
respect. In fact, he will probably be a somewhat desperate
and violent gambler, whether fortunate or unfortunate will
depend upon the aspects to Uranus, and so on, as usual.
In milder form, this position may imply what is sometimes
Luther is fully explained by this position itself, i f the reader
above. The ordinary irreligious reader of the present day can
Ages for a monk to marry a nun, and he will find a better
example in the career of Madame Steinheil,2 3 2 which is
extremely characteristic of Uranus in this house at his most
efficient.
230. See note 126.
231. See note 57.
232. See note 150.
AII'ister Crowley
1 86
Ur(mu.\·
It is to be understood that where the temperament of the
native is scientific or philosophical, some of these [orces will
either not operate at all or else (heir operation ,viii not
become manifest. Consider, for example, Sir William Hamil­
ton,2 3 3 who has (he purely intellectual sign of Gemini rising,
with its lord �lcrcury upon the cusp of Virgo not vcry far
from the cusp of the fifth house, and squared for greater
coldness by the Moon. Saturn, too, is in the fifth house, only
6
degrees from the conjunction of Uranus. It would be
absurd to suppose that the pleasures of such a man could
exhibit any similarity with those of Savonarola with Aries
rising and Saturn and Venus in conjunction sq�aring him .
Neglect to consider such details is a constalll pitfall to the
unwary student of this science.
. .
To return for a single moment to what was ongmally said
.
with regard to children, it \vill be remarked that only two of
the seven people named had any children.
.
.
The fifth hOllse has a special connectIOn w 1th publiC
.
appearances in connection with amusem�nts; many people
.
wiTh this position of Uranus become publ1c entertamers and
often
acquire
the greatest distinction in
this line.
�
The r
careers, however, are likely to be even more checkered than IS
usually the case, even with this profession .
The native should always be ready to receive shocks in the
matter of his pleasures. Great good-fortune is likely to come
his way in this respect, but on the other hand, he must �ot
take it too mllch to heart if those things and people on which
he has set his affections suddenly go back on him.
Urarws in the Sixth House
of the native, it is to be expected that the presence of Uranus
will cause strange subtle and sometimes sudden and violent
diseases. In most cases these will be nervous or in some way
affecting
the
will
of
the
native,
interfering
with
the
connection between his sensory and motor apparatuses. The
form which such a malady may take is not to be determined
off.hand, but requires careful study of the sign on the CliSp of
233. See note 172.
the house and its ruler. For example, the presence of Uranus
in Aries on the CliSP of this house presumably determined the
deafness which has afnicted [dison, since Aries rules the
head. The square of the moon to Uranus seems to indicate
an
afniction of lhe sensory rather than of the motor apparatus.
Ilad t-.lars been afflicted thus, the trouble would probably
have come through some fonn of paralysis.
The native should be extremely careful with regard to his
health and keep himself in the best possible condition to
resist disease when it actually arrives. Its onset is likcly to he
so sudden and unexpected, as a general rule, that precautions
against it other than those indicated above, arc likely to be
useless. It is obviously no good to take an umbrella mto the
trenches. Pains should therefore be taken to live 'a life as free
as possible from strain or worry, and the compan): of such
as jar upon the nerves is not to be endured wnh much
people
patience as if no such threat to the stability of th e system
.
were in existence.
The sixth house also refers to servants, and, on the whole,
the presence of Uranus is very unfavourable. Unless the
native is a man of very strong character, his servants arc likely
to be better men than he is and to become his masters. The
difficulties of Mary Queen of Scots ,..nth her subjects may
have been due to this cause. Generally speaking there is
liability to unexpected and unfortunate happenings in this
connection. It is not that Uranus is malefic as such; we have
seen that he is not; the point is that the idea of the servant
normally
The principal indication of the sixth house, being the health
1 87
precludes
that
of individuality, originality and
independence. You do not want an inferior to do your
thinking for yOll, you want him to do exactly what he is told
and nothing else. Where,
therefore,
he insists on being
himself, he becomes useless to you. The same remarks apply,
to a certain extent, to every class of person with whom one
may be thrown, from one's own father or wife, to a mere
acquaintance. YOli want to know exactly what the other
person is going to do and JUSt so far as this is not the case, do
you feel uneasy \..nth regard to them.
The sixth house also indicates 'ambassadors', and this word
may
be
taken, in extreme cases, to include inspiration.
Messages are likely to come to the native from all sorts of
Uranus
AI(,'�ftl'r Crowley
1 88
Important people and if he be in a position requiring the
patronage of the greal, he will probably obtain it. This is
instanced
by
Wagner and Kanl. The general liability of
Uranus to upset things suddenly applies, how�ver, also to all
sllch affairs. The native cannot count lIpon the continued
support of the great, as he could were Jupiter in this position.
$0 far as the house refers to apparel, the presence of
Uranus will produce all kinds of eccentricity. The same
peculiarities as are expressed by the presence of Uranus in the
Ascendant, will be translated into terms of costume when he
is in the sixth house.
Exceptional aspects may, of course, modify the judgment. If
for example, Jupiter were the lord of the sixth and true to
Uranus, the combination would be ideal.
Uranus will indicate the character of the servants of the
189
Uranus ill the Seventh House
So insensible is humanity at large to the facts of life that the
most
desperate
undertaken
of
all
adventures,
marriage,
is
usually
by them wi th the idea of settling down to
ambassador, and it will frequently occur that these persons
quietude. Occasionally, success is obtained, exemplifying the
eccentric. In the case of �Iary Queen of SCOIS, the characters
miracle is not likely to take place when Uranus is in the
were far from being all that could be desired, while with
very likely obtain a partner very mueh above his or her social
are
mentally
or morally defective, or at
of Darnley and Bothwell,l J 4
the vcry least.
(0 take only lWO of a host,
regard to Wagner, Ludwig II of Bavaria2 J S is an extreme
example of what the malice of Uranus can achieve. One may
fertility of nature in producing miracles to order. But this
seventh house. It is only good for the adventurer, who may
position. For there is always something big about Uranus.
The person indicated by it is likely to be greatly superior to
the native in one way or another. Such marriages are, of
remark, moreover, upon the character of old King Leo·
pold2 3 6 in connection with the case of Cleo de Merode,2 J "I
course, notoriously
when considering the case of Kant.
happiness in the conventional sense. There may, of course, be
distinguished from pure gambling for the love of the thing,
lord
who also had this position. It would perhaps be going too far,
8
to comment upon the notorious proclivities of Frederick,2 J
The sixth house referring to speculative investment as
we find Uranus exhibiting the same characteristics, mutatis
mUlmldis, as in other matlers. The native is likely to conceive
great ideas, the carrying out of which will be liable to very
great vicissitudes.
So far as the sixth hOllse refers to small animals, the
indication is that the native is not likely to be particularly
successful in farming or breeding. Unfortunate accidents will
constantly interfere with his success.
234. Damky. husband of Mary Queen of Scots, was murdered by
Bothwell. who married Mary soon after.
235. Sec note 1 1 1.
236. �opold II ( 1 835-1909), king of the Belgians and sovereign of
the Congo I'ree State.
237. See notc 157.
238. Frederick the Great of Prussia was alleged to be homosexual.
Crowley, who was bi-sexual or pan.sexual, is writing with tongue·in­
check.
unhappy, because the suddenness of
Uranus and the generally disturbing atmosphere which he
creates wherever he goes, are unfavourable to peace and
exceptions to this generalisation. Where the native has the
of the
seventh
house
well-dignified
and Uranus is
well·aspected, his presence there might merely indicate that
the Uranus elcment in the partner, was, for example, science.
A quiet little girl with no particular qualifications might
marry a man famous in some department of knowledge or
the President of a wealthy corporation or a government
official and keep house very well for him. But such cases may
be regarded as exceptional. As a general rule trouble is bound
to ensue, of course, in many cases, he will prevent marriage
altogether,
causing
the break-up of engagements, or the
appearance of some other obstacle.
The obvious case, and one which needs no comment, is
that of Queen Elizabeth; she was the last heir of the Tudors
and marriage was more important to her than for almost any
other person on the planet, yet the history of her reign is but
the history of broken marriage negotiations.
An example of an unfortunate marriage is that of Louis
[frt/llIlS
. l ft'/s/a Crowley
190
XVI to t\laric Antoinptc. Ilerc the partner is indicated by
Urdllus, and as is stated elsewhere in this volume, it was the
191
It w
i ll be objected to all this that there is no Sign of any
trouble in connection with the marriage of T.l1. l Iuxley, 2 4 0
great eccentricity of her character which determined at least
who had Uranus right on the cusp of the house. But the lord
one scI of causes of the French Revolution. Another example
"
is the great Napoleon. His first marriage ended in divorce. I n
Venus and the sextilc o f Jupiter. And further, i t may be said
h i s second, the innucncc of Uranus i s even more emphatically
brought
out,
for
�tarie Louise was one of the greatest
princesses in Europe and he was only a Corsican adventurer.
The social again was consequently enormous, but there was,
as the memoirs of lime sufficiently prove, never even a
glimpse
of
happiness
in
this ill-assorted
union and the
political gain expected from it did not materialise. Even as an
alliance it rather hampered than helped. While the question
of an heir was answered in none too friendly a sense, as is
familiar to readers of history or of Rostand's L 'Aigloll.
A further example of unsuitability is afforded by Madame
B1ayatsky.
She again made an admirable match from the
of his seventh is admirably dignified by the conjunction of
that in the case of a man so exclusively devoted to science,
the effect of Uranus will not be so manifestly upon marriage
as upon that other indication afforded by the hOllse, i.e.
public affairs.
With regard t o this latter matter, the inOuence of Uranus
�
wi 1 be t�mpestuous. lie will cause the nati\c (0 rise to great
heights III all such matters, but the career will ne\'er be
smooth. Huxley and Blavatsky spent most of their lives in
controversies
which literally shook the earth. The same
241
remark applies to J.P. Morgan,
while Maurice 1\laeter�
242
linck,
though not himself particularly controversial, has
again
and again been attacked from lhe days o f Max
243
until now. The foreign policy of bOUl Queen
conventional point of view but there was no real marriage ;
Nordau
and it soon broke up to free her for
the career which we
.
know.
Where the native is an artist and thus by nature ready to
desperate adventure. Queen Elizabeth, it must be remem·
sympathise with the unusual, the effect of Uranus will not
take this malignant form. In the case o f �Iaurice t\laeteriinck,
who married a distinguished actress, the unusual nature o f
the profession docs not come as a shock and consequently
there was no reason for any upset. Only from the point of
view of French Society could there be any scandal in such an
affair, and this of course must operate to a certain extent.
2
TIle reader will remember the trials o f MaKel Schwob 3 9
callsed by his marriage to one of the most charming and
talented
women
III
Paris,
merely
on
account
of
her
Elizabeth and Napoleon was war; there was never a period in
the lives of either when they were not engaged in some
bered, was to all intents and purposes, a prisoner, during the
reign of her sister.
I t sometimes occurs that the presence of Uranus in the
seventh
house
causes the sudden death
of the marriage
partner, or possibly the partner in business. With regard to
the latter, all that has been said before with the necessarv
emendations will appl)· generally. lie is likely to be th�
dominant figure in the partnership which is likely to break up
after various vicissitudes. But an afOictioll of Urallus by the
1\loon in the case of a man or by the Sun in the case of a
profession.
wom,Ul
or
any other trouble arising through aspects or
239. Even at the time this book was written ( 1 9 1 7 ) , lhe English
reader was unlikely to know anything about the privau life of Marcel
Schwob, literary critic. In his youth, Crowley frequently visited Paris 10
meet his superior in the Golden Dawn, Macgregor Mathers, or to cool
his ardour in one of the brothels there. In Paris at this time - about
1900 - he made the acquaintance of Marcel Schwob whom he
persuaded a few years later to translate into French his 'chaplet or
verse' which had been inspired by Auguste Rodin. See Rodin in Rime,
1907, by Aleister Crowley, and Crowley's Confessions, 1969.
240. See note 3.
241. Sec note 4.
242. Sec note J 35.
243. Author of Degeneratiun, an absurd allaek on the Decadent
movement in literature and art. based upon the views of the Italian
alienist Lomhroso, who ascribed certain artistic impulses and ideas to a
degeneration of the brain cdls. !'oets Verlaine and RO�$etti were
classified by Nordau as 'imbeciles'.
;-lleister Crowley
192
transits of an unfortunate nature, of the partner's activities
Uranus
193
by sudden or violent death.
best way. Queen Victoria had very little to do with death
native to marry in response to a sudden inexplicable impulse.
she who consolidated and enlarged and made prosperous her
It is further to be remarked that Uranus oflen causes the
Engagements
marry
to
are
also
entered
upon
without
sufficient thought. Such temptation should be watched and
resisted. At the same time, it will be nugatory to seck for a
mate of a conventional and inactive type; in fact to a person
with Uranus in this position, there arc no slich people. In all
men
and
women
mere
is
something
extraordinary
and
incalculable, which would be brought out by the fact of
marriage wi th any person having Uranus in the seventh house.
The presence of Uranus in the house of death does not
aJways imply any strangeness in the manner of the deam, as
might at first sight be expected. Queen Victoria, for example,
lived to a great old age and died in the most conventionaJ
manner possible, and this at first sight is more remarkable
because Neptune is in conjunction with Uranus, with Saturn
square
to
him.
The
trine
of Venus is here sufficiently
to overcome those unfortunate indications and,
besides this, Jupitcr is the lord of the eighth hOllse and is
culminating in the mid-heaven in very close sextile with Mars.
There was nothing particularly strange, either, about the
death of Anna Kingsford,2 4 4 but there the moon is trine and
Jupiter semi·sextile, while the lord of th e eignth house Mars,
is
rising
in
conjunction
wi. th
unexpected and premature, but
ancestraJ heritage. Here then we see Uranus acting in his
g�v�mmenta1 capacit�. In the case of Michael Angelo, a very
SImilar remark appiles. It may be said that he, too,
.
�onsohdated and enlarged the empire of his ancestors by the
Immense part that he played in the Renaissance. The glories
of Greece lived again in him.
With regard to Sir Humphrey Davy, 2 4 S onc must recall the
fact that death is only a secondary meaning of the eighth
house; the essential significance is 'obscure and secret places'.
It only comes to mean death because death is the chid of
Uranus in tlte Eighth House
pO\\'erful
�
but she had much to do with the goods of the dead. It w
dlC
Sun.
lIer
death
was
there was no essentiaJly
Uranian quality about it. These aspects explain why. Michael
Angelo again, who passed peacefully away at an advanced
age, though he too, like Queen Victoria, had Neptune aJso in
such. Davy has Uranus trine to Mars and Mars is the lord of
the Ascendant, Scorpio, this sign being the natural CUSp for
the eighth house. He being a man of science, Uranus takes
this colouring, and we therefore find that the discovery
which made him famous is that lamp which insures safety in
�bscure and sccret places. It is true that the lord of the eighth
IS squared by Mars, but Mars being himself so well-dignified
by Uranus, the complex is not sufficiently bad to imply
violent death. As we know, however, he constantly ran the
greatest risks of such, and presumably it so happened that his
�rections
on these occasions were good enough to enable
him to escape catastrophe. This is to be taken as additionaJ to
�hat has been said above with regard to the peculiar quality
til Uranus emphasised by the general scientific trend of the
horoscope.
With
regard
to
Dr
L. L
Zamenhof,
the
inventor
of
Esperanto, the case is somewhat similar. Here we have a man
investigating scientifically all sorts of dead languages, which
the eighth house ( it will be remembered that �eptune in this
are, as it were, a kind of ancestraJ possession, with the idea of
i t off in infancy) has �lcrcury and Venus in trine to Uranus,
there are no bad aspects whicb would suggest any strange­
sex tile and Saturn trine. It is a very remarkable complex and
A last exa�ple of this class is Emanuel Swedenborg.2 1 6
.
Here Jupiter IS trine and Luna in conjunction. The latter
position often tends to prolong the life where it does not cu t
and Venus is the lady of the eighth. Jupiter, moreover, is
an entirely favourable one; Uranus consequently acts in his
244. Sec note J09.
forming from them, a new universal tongue. Here, again,
ness, suddenness or violence about the death.
245. Sec note 90.
246. See note 1 1 3.
Uranus
A/euler Crowley
194
aspect suggests a certain obscurity and illusion �ith rc�ard to
the subject of death, and a great pre-occupatIOn with the
same is implied by the fact that Jupiter is lord of the
Ascendant. This is undoubtedly the explanation of the tone
of his being, as we see it expressed in his doctrine. It was
,
investig-dtions into what really happened at death that flUed
in his whole life.
We have now to change over to mOTC conventional and
obvious cases. The death of Vaillant2 4 7 was certainly strange
and violent, if ever death were. It is to be noted that Herschel
in this case has no near aspects of any kind and his operation
is consequently isolated and unchecked.
The death of Marie Bashkirtseff,2 4 8 though premature,
was not particularly strange, the cause being tuberculosis, but
Saturn being square to Uranus seems to have given
� sort
of
melancholy insight to her thought. Throughout her diary , full
as it is of ambitious projects for a distant future, one can feel
some subconscious certainty that these projects must be
aborted. She senses her early death without knowing it in the
ordinary way.
_
No comment is needed to explain the operation of Uranus
in the case of Tolstoy, who feeling the hand of death upon
his shoulder, fled instinctively from home and family to die
in the waiting' room of a country railroad depot.
More remarkable cases still are at our disposa1. First of an
stands Shelley. Here the conjunction of Uranus with Venus
and Sol operated no doubt to enlighten his mind in respect of
.
antiquity. It conferred upon him that love for the ancient
masters of literature and art, which fonned the groundwork
of his matchless style. But beyond this, there are no aspe�ts
to Uranus, who was therefore free to· operate With
characteristic violence, for while, when considering Uranus,
we must regard him as helped by the conjunction of Sol, �e
.
must read this same aspect in an entirely opposite sense, With
!
note that Venus being in conjunction with both of these, it
was open for him to die at one of the Venus ages.
Another case of suicide is Guy de Maupassant.249 There
are here no close or strong aspects to Uranus, only doubtful
sex tiles of Neptune and the Moon, which if they had any
innuence at all, would certainly not have had a good one.
The lord of the eighth, Mars, is in conjunction with Venus and
Jupiter, but there are no steady aspects. Conjunctions, even
of the most favourable planets, are not to be trusted unless
they have support from other parts of heaven.
From private sources we have also a case of death by
drowning; curiously enough at just the same age as Shelley.
Here Uranus is very close to the cusp of the ninth house, if
not actually over it, but Luna, lord of the eighth, is upon the
edge of the watery sign in exact opposition to Mars, while
Uranus himself is in aspect to Neptune.
We have a case of drowning at the age of three, where,
though Uranus is not in the eighth, Mercury the lord of the
eighth is in a watery sign exactly squared by Uranus. Note
that the presence of Mercury in the eighth hOlise accounts for
the early age at which the death took place.
There are one or two other examples of this second
reaction of Uranus; Zola, for instance, who was suffocated by
gas fumes, has the lord of his eighth, squared by Uranus and
that lord is in a fiery sign.
Here is a case of a child strangled at birth, where the lord
of the eighth is squared by Uranus, and another of exactly
the same sort where the lord of the eighth, Jupiter, is in
conjunction with Mars and squared by Uranus. Neptune is in
opposition
to Uranus. We have another case of a child
strangled through falling off a chair, where the lord of the
eighth, Mars, is in opposition to Uranus. The early age of the
death is indicated by the presence of Luna in the eighth
house. One may remark parenthetically that Neptune also
can act in this secondary way, by afflicting the lord of the
equal justice by saying that Sol being the ord of the eigh th,
.
.
the conjunction of Uranus threatened a Violent termmatlon
eighth. Thus, a child thrown at the age of
to the life. With regard to the exact period of death, one may
by Neptune and by Saturn.
247. See note 83.
248. See note 78.
1 95
31
days by its
mother into a mill stream, has the lady of the eighth squared
249. Henri Rene Albert Guy de Maupassant (1 850·1893), novelist
and writer of short stories. died of syphilis.
A/eisler Crowley
196
Urmws
From these samples it witl be clear Ulal the action of
197
Uranus when in a house and when afnicting its lord, may be
as i t IS a determinant o f lhe qua.lity o f the subconscious
mind.
in the mind of the astrologer. when attempting to estimate
this earth has ever produced are the Prophet of Nazareth and
vcry similar and this consideration should always be prescnt
any condition.
With regard to the morc general conditions indicated by
this position of Uranus, one may observe that where he is in
aspect to the lord of the first, third or ninth houses, the
errect may be to cause the native to become preoccupied
Two of the greatest mystics of the religious type which
�
Wi li�m Blake . both of whom had this position. The intensely
.
rehglOus quality of the subliminal outlook is indicated in the
lirst case by a sextile of Luna and the presence of Saturn in
the same house. While in the latter we find a sex tile of Mars.
either ..
vith death itself or with the affairs of antiquity. He
Pure literature has similar distinguished representatives in
Emile Zola and Oscar Wilde. The extraordinary character of
bric-a-brac, perhaps, or objects of art, or devote himself
both these instances and the casual reader might think that
tology, and enjoy rummaging among old and musty folios.
quality
might become a colleclOr of old coins, stamps, furniture,
closely to such subjects as Egyptology, archaeoiob'Y. palaeon­
The
exact
might
chosen
according
i n either
of
these writers.
Yet
the
religion
of
humanity informs hath of them. As is evidenced in the case
the
by aspects from other planets.
For
of Zola, less by his work itself than by the subtle quality
scholar or cause him to employ his life in the deciphering of
expressed itself more clearly i n such writings as 'The Soul of
afforded
be
one might have to go far and look deep to sec the religious
to
indications
pursuit
the point of view conferred by Uranus is well brought out in
example a good aspect of Mercury might make him a classical
hieroglyphics or cunei forms. A similar aspect from Jupiter
might make him a historian or constitutional lawyer. But, of
course, these determinations only come into force where
Uranus is in some way connected with the personality or the
mind. As in the case of the other houses, where we have to
gauge the effect of Uranus on material affairs, the general
result is bad. He may imply all sorts of trouble in connection
with legacies or in the winding up of estates.
Where he is in aspect to the lord of the sixth, it is probable
that any diseases to which the native may be liable will take
one of those forms which we have learned to associate with
Uranus.
Death
may
come
in
consequence
of
nervolls
breakdown, or of some such disease as paralysis or epilepsy.
Uranus i/I the Ninth House
The ninth house, referring as it does to matters of science and
underlying and inspiring it, while with the Irish writer, i t
Man under Socialism' and De Profundis. It is to be observed,
.
of cour�e, III all these cases, that Uranus is not a religious
planet I.n the same sense as Jupiter. He is always big,
broad·mmded
and
unconventional,
more
occupied
with
good'�ill toward men than any problem of theology.
caSionall y. he appears to devote himself exclusively to
.
science as III the case of Copernicus, where the aspects arc
�
uniformly admirable. Uranus, however, being in Scorpio, one
could not expect any but a scientific tum.
Two great poets, Swinburne and de Musset, have this same
posi.tion :md i n these cases it wiJI be noted that the religious
mstmct IS expressed as is so often lhe case, in terms of
2
absolute irreligion. As Fuller s o remarks, 'the first Christians
were
called atheists, yet they believed in God; lhe last
Christians are called theists, yet they do not believe in God;
the first free·thinkers were caIled atheists, yet they believed
religion in the first place, we may expect to find it one of the
happiest of homes for Uranus, the best part of whose nature
is concerned with the same subjects. As will be seen later
there may be considerable danger when it approximates too
closely to the cusp of the tenth. When fairly into the ninth,
·
however, it may be described as altogether admirable, so far
250. John Frederick Charles Fuller, born 1878. He was made a
Major·Ceneral in 1930. Author of many works on warfare, his first
publication, The Star in the lVest, 1907, was a panegyric on Crowley,
his poetry and philosophy, a work which he elteluded from the list of
his pUblications in IVhQ's IVho.
Uranus
A/eister Crowley
198
in no-God; the last frcc-thinkers will be called theists, yet
they will not believe in no-God.'
Swinburne's
'Hymn
of Man',
'Before
a Crucifix' and
similar poems arc far more truly religious than any number of
those treatises which are usually considered pious, if only
because their conception of the cosmos is so much greater
and therefore so much more reverent. The conventional
theological conception that this minute planet is the sale
centre of the divine interest may be called the blasphemy of
1 99
previous day will be solved in the morning. These tendencies
are well worth encouraging; people with this position are
often extremely well-suited for a life of meditation and
prayer, or whatever they may choose to call it. We only
Imply the substitution of the consciousness of the world
which lies behind and above phenomena, for that illusory and
changing world itself.
Such people, however, should avoid externalising their
.
VIews, as people of a more ordinary turn of mind are likely to
an egumaniac.
Always assuming the justice of the courts
which condemned George Edalji,2 S I this position of Uranus
be antagonised by uleir expression .
is very instructive, with regard to the quality of his mind. For
spoken of above, it is quite probable that the native may be
chapter on the aspects to Uranus will enlarge upon this point.
Uranus is in exact opposition to Mercury, a reference to the
(j ttcd in no ordinary degree for the obtaining of the very
.
hlghcst class of spiritual development. The names of the two
be said that great activity
this point.
As to the more general indication of this position, it may
of the subconscious nature is
impl�ed. The mind is usually very sensitive, very psychi�, very
intuitive and above all, has the faculty o f that true kmd of
mysticism which understands all phenomena as necessarily
correlated or to usc the well-known phrase of the mystic's
Besides
the
comparatively
commonplace
experiences
great religious teachers cited above are sufficient cvidence on
As before, the quality of Uranus deteriorates, when we
C?ffie to his innucnce upon material things. The brothers and
slstcrs of the marriage partner are likely to be eccentric
persons and to cause an inflnity of trouble. In the matter of
oath 'interprets every phenomenon as a direct dealing of God
,
with the Soul .2 5 2 People born with this position nearly
long journeys, Uranus again is unfortunate, especially if he be
cases, especially if Uranus be afnicted, particularly by Luna
into the aspects of Uranus with regard to the lords of any
always continue mental activity through sleep and in many
or Neptune, they may be subject to disquieting dreams.
During the childhood of such persons, they need the most
in a watery sign, when there is danger of drowning.
Care must be taken in deciding such points to look closely
other houses which may be concerned in such matters, and
when the native wishes to start upon a journey, he should
careful guardianship. If they suffer from nightmare or are
look closely into his direction and transits. There is, however,
precaution must be taken to relieve thei( troubles. If they
find a lack of sympathy on the part of the parents, theIr
compelled
afraid of the dark, they must not be punished, but every
whole lives may be ruined. Very often in the best cases, the
activity
of
extremely
extremely
the
sub-conscious mind during sleep will be
beneficial,
leading
valuable character.
to
It
waking
thoughts of an
will appear as if actual
this
to be said.
that
he
will be liable to find himself
to undertake such journeys with the greatest
suddenness, so that h� will hardly have time to considcr
whether or no he be wise in doing so.
Urnnus in the Tenth House
The primary indication of the tenth house being the mother,
inspiration followed upon awakening, or sometimes may be
she will be indicated by Uranus in the same way as the father
illumination. The problems that had worried one during the
apply to her, as were made in the case of him. It is however
carried on
into the waking state and produce a kind of
251. See note 82.
0
a
252. The oath of a Master of the Temple 8 = 3 .
in the fourth house and UlC same remarks may be taken to
no � quite so favourable because Uranus possesses qualities
which may be forgiven in a man, but are quite inexcusable in
a woman. It is also less antecedently probable that the best
A leister Crowley
200
side of the planet will be brought Qut, while science and
government remain principally in the hands of the sterner
sex.
111is
incompatibility
of
Uranus with
femininity is so
pronounced that unless there is some strong r�ason to the
contrary it will be wiser to look fOT the mother In the lord of
the tenth rather than in Uranus.
Far more important is the reference of the tenth house to
the professional career and reputation of the ?ativc. �e �e he
.
finds ample scope for the development of all hls pcc �ila
nl1es.
.
He may exalt to the greatest heights, but thiS WIll nearly
always be through vicissitudes and adventures of no mean
order and the chance of a crash is as great as, or perhaps even
�
greal r
than
when
Saturn
occupies
this
�
position,
a� s
indicated in the proper place. Except, however, where It IS
death that closes the chapter, there is not the same reason for
�
despair. Uranus knocks you dow� suddenly, but very o ten
.
gives you a chance to get up agaIn, whereas the calamItIes
caused by Saturn arc but the culminations �f a proce�s of
attrition. Thus we find Gladstone defeated agam and agam by
overwhelming majorities, only to come· back to power with
equal suddenness and vehemence within a few years or even
months. A study of the meteoric career of Winston Churchill
should also be instructive in this connection.
An
even
Kruger.l S 3
more
splendid
destiny
was
that
of
Paul
Fate frequently seemed to desert him, but he
always came back, until the final blow of the last Boer War.
S4
r
The adventures of Jay Gouldl
on Wall Street orm
aIlother chapter in the history of this �osition, and a very
.
characteristic one. In the case of RossettI, the reputatIon not
only went through innumerable nuct�ations, but owing to
.
the conjunction of Mars and Neptune III the mnth, was hurt
by his fall to madness. Ruskin's celebrity was of the same
S
great and yet doubtful character, while with Chatterton l 5
we see his fame based not really so much upon the work
which he accomplished as upon the discovery of his forgeries,
253. See note 29.
254. See note 48.
255.
See note 204.
Uranus
20 1
his suicide and the scandal caused thereby. The square of
Uranus
to
the
Sun
perhaps
indicates
that
the
loss
of
reputation caused by the exposure would threaten the life
itself.
The extraordinary reputation of Ludwig II of Bavaria' 5 6
and his deposition and death, whether that came about by his
own hand or another's, is particularly characteristic of· the
actions of Uranus.
His influence i s further shown in every one of these
nativities
as
determining
an extremely fantastic type of
reputation, possibly quite undeserved. The publicity given by
the planet combines with this cause to create the maximum
of scandal, with the minimum of cause. Every one of the
people we have mentioned was attacked persistently in tRe
most shocking manner, in a manner quite out of proportion
to any possible crimes that any human being could ever have
committed. No one who was not. living in England during the
prime of Gladstone's
power can possibly understand the
ferocity of the hatred which pursued him. No lie was too
absurd to circulate about him, no proposal for dealing with
him
too
drastic.
clergymen with
He was identified by
the
quite
orthodox
Beast of the Apocalypse and quite
responsible people who would not have hurt a Oy, seriously
counselled his assassination.
Winston Churchill has been attacked in a very similar
manner. A most damaging story wi th regard to his escape
from Pretoria was circulated again and again, until repeated
prosecution for libel closed the mouths of his enemies in that
particular respect, and that is only one of the hundreds of
such attacks. One has only to read the English newspapers of
1 9 1 5 to perceive the almost incredible bitterness of his
enemies. A similar search through the files of the English
newspapers of the nineties will disclose similarly insane fury
towards Kruger. Rossetti was the victim of the most cruel
persecution ;
witness
Buchanan's
The Fleshly
School of
Poetry. 2 5 7 Ruskin incurred the enmity of Whistler, and was
256.
257.
See note I l l .
Robert William Buchanan, poet, author of several collections of
verse and The ·Fleshly School of Poetry, o.nd other Phenomena of the
day , London, 1872.
Unmul
A h'lster Crowley
202
li
as good as naycd alive by '
, ,1ll in the 'Th� Gentle Art of
,
mencan newspapers
Making Enemies'. Those familiar with
�
and magazines do not need to be remmded that Jay Gould
was the victim of equally persistent and bitter attacks.
TIle native with this position must accordingly be prepared
to
take
the
rough
with
the
smooth
in
the
matter
of
reputation. Even in the narrow circles of ordinary private life,
this is the case; and as Uranus with such people cannot
expand in the same way as he does with public ch�ctcrs.
the good side of him may be aborted Wom�n especially arc
..
.
certain to lose every shred of reputation; It IS the most fatal
indication possible.
'
.
So far as Uranus indicates the profeSSIOn, the action IS
.
principally that of vicissitudes; it is very much better f�r
anyone who has this to endeavour in every ,
� ay to make hIS
business as public as possible , to connect hImsel f wherever
he can with some great body. A doctor, for example, should
try to secure a government appointment. If he sticks to
private practice, there is almost certain to be trouble.
.
.
The tenth house also indicates the supcnor of the native
and this is not so entirely bad. The employer will no doubt
be a masterful person of great authority and strong will, but
he will be broadminded and probably little inclined to petty
tyranny. At the same time he may be apt to dismiss the
native for some reason which the latter cannot understand.
With regard to the business of the native, he will be wise to
enlarge it, as in the case of the professional man. He should
look for government contracts and concern himself rather
with wholesale than with retail business. He must always be
on the look-out for bankruptcy, strikes, and other inter­
ferences with his trade. When all is said, this position of
Herschel is not desirable; unless he is very well aspected, the
career in whatever branch of life it may lie, is sure to be
tempestuous.
.
A final point to consider is that where Uranus IS �n aspect
to the lord of the Ascendant, he may cause the natIve to be
.
extremely bold or even rash and over-confident. Let such a
one remember, if he can, that 'at his initiation, he .was taught
to be cau tious'.
203
Uranus ill the Eleventh Ilouse
Although Aquarius is the natural sign for the cusp of the
eleventh house, the influence of this planet is not especially
excellent.
For the idea of friendship connotes reliability
above all things, and Uranus wi th aJI his virtues Jacks this.
The friends of the native may sometimes be of a very exalted
kind, or distinguished for their attainments, in short, Uranus
indicates the kind of friends, but where they are not so
distinguished,
they
,vill
show
the
worst
side
of
the
planet - the violent, eccentric side.
In the case of Nell Gwynn, for example, Charles II is
clearly indicated by Uranus. In saying this, it is to be borne in
mind that we do not mean that the king was alt9gether an
Uranian , onlv that in his relations with her, he actcd in the
.
.
Uranian manner. These indications are, however, not ullIvcr­
sally true. In thc case of Edward VI, for example, nothing
could be more false than to say that his fricnds were Uranian
in this particular sense and from the fact of his
� ings�ip,
they could not be marc cxalted than he was. The conjunctIOn
of Mars, the trine of Neptune, and the square of Mercury
�
point rather to the determination o
Uranus on its scientific
.
.
sidc as referring to the hopes and WIshes of the natIve, which
�
as , e know, were quitc in accordance with the best instincts
of the planet.
In all ordinary cases, however, it may be said that the
native is liable to makc friends suddenly and impulsively, to
adhere to them with great violence and men to drop
tJ:tem, as
the saying is, 'like a redhot eoaJ'. Some danger, too, IS to bc
apprehended through friendships. Unreasonable quarrels arc
.
likely to be the rule; treachery is not impOSSible but the
native is never likely to become cautious in this respect,
however much experience may try to teach him. Great good,
however, may result to the native from his association with
pcrsons of great position or influence, but the diffjcul �y will
.
always be to turn temporary success on these hnes mlo a
thing of pcrmanence. It is also rather important to remember
that the fascination of these curious friendships, which we
have
indicated above,
may
become a positive obsession,
causing the native to waste his life in Bohemia. In some case�,
even gravcr menaces may come from heaven. Though LudWIg
.'Heister Crowley
204
II of Bavaria has Uranus in the tenth house, where we have
dealt with it, it must be remarked that it is only 21t2 degrees
Uranus
205
administer a remote district in the Sahara or some similar
solitude. Even in minor matters, this might operate, causing
from the cusp of the eleventh, and it is quite possible that
mishaps, leading to delays and detention in inaccessible spots.
house. The reader will recall the fact that owing to his choice
confidence to. He is extremely apt to trust the wrong person.
some of his influence may have been carried over to that
of companions which was hardl)' less eccentric than that
exhibited by I-Jeliogabulus,2
S8
he obtained a reputation for
madness, which was perhaps not wholly undeserved. At the
same time, it is evident that the influence of Uranus extends
over both houses, so that his choice of friends and the loss of
his good name were intimately connected. As explained in
the chapter on the aspects of Uranus, the sex tile of Luna is
far more favourable, unless there be some strong impulse for
sanity from another quarter. There is a kind of bewilderment
of the brain caused by the closer aspects of these planets
which often leads to disaster.
Persons with this position
should be careful to try to bring out the better side of Uranus
in the choice of their associates.
Uranus i1l the Twelfth /-louse
In the twelfth house, the effect of Uranus is very important.
There is a certain secrecy about his method of action which
agrees very well with the character of the house. So far,
however, as secret enemies are connoted, the outlook is bad.
For it gives to such the utmost freedom of activity. At all
sorts of unexpected times they will spring upon you from
The native should be very careful as to whom he gives his
The hostile character of the house in most respects, is likely
to cause the native serious trouble in many ways. In extreme
cases he may be in danger of assassination. In others, of
imprisonment or of exile. An example of the last Victor
Hugo, who has Uranus on the cusp of the twelfth house an.d
spent a great ponion of his life in exile. Th� same r�m.ark IS
tme of Dante, though in his case the planet IS well wlthm the
�
house. As an example of assassination, we have the s<:,n o f
e
.
late King of Portugal, Dom Carlos, who was shot while ndmg
through the streets of Lisbon with his royal father.
The
cases
of
Erasmus and Bernard Shaw are a little
difficult to place. It must be remembered in these remarks
upon the positions of the planets in the houses that very
.
often the trine is not exact and that the difference of a very
few minutes may bring a planet within the sphere of the next
house. In both of these cases, it seems as if the position of
Uranus was
such
that the more important parts of his
influence at least belong to the Ascendant. But yet, we may
say that Erasmus was constantly in danger of imprisonment
and that Shaw has been all his life exceedingly unpopular
with the more respectable classes of the community and that
behind and pull you down unless you are very careful. On the
many attempts have doubtless been made to overthrow him.
a personage of the utmost importance in secret societies, or
In particular, since the breaking out of the G�eat
ar, he has
been in more or less continual danger of assassmatlon.
of trickiness or deception and also upon silence.
Uranus does much to modify this particular part of the
other hand if your Uranus is well dignified, it may make you
as a conductor of negotiations which depend upon any kind
The house signifies confinement and detention and for this
reason, Uranus giving the governmental qualities, it is likely
that the native will hold an official position in such places as
asylums, hospitals, prisons, work-houses, and even in out·of·
the-way places. For example, he might be called upon to
�V
In the case of Strauss, the conjunction of the Sun with
influence
�
since the nature of the Sun is wholly opposed in
every poi t to that of the twelfth house.
A final remark is that danger is to be apprehended by the
native in any dealings with large wild animals. It is probable
that he will have great power over them, but at any moment
a violent end is likely.
258.
Heliogabalus, or Elagabalus. the most epicene and apolaustic of
the Roman emperors, assumed [he purple in A.D. 218 at the age of 14
and was murdered four years later.
For example a man might become a splendid rider only in
the end to be thrown from his horse and killed. Or he might
acquire great reputation as a hunter of big game, and in the
206
end fall a
\ iclim
to his temerity. The atmosphere of Uranus is
always one of adventure and of hair-breadth escapes. In
whatever house he may be situated, this influence is pretty
sure lO manifest itself.
H OW H O ROSC OPES A RE
F AKED
How Horoscop es are Faked
I have always been opposed to the receiving of money for
anything which
has in any way
to do with the occult
sciences. Because they are so important and so sacred, onc
ought to be particularly on one's honour with regard to
them. As the Scripture says: 'Avoid the appearance of Evil:.
The more serious one is about the subject, the more careful
one should be to do nothing which can make anyone justified
in calling you a humbug.
The laws of the State of New York are supposed to
prohibit fonune-telling, and they are, indeed, applied with
great severity so far as the little fish arc concerned. But the
big fish, the most conscienceless swindlers of all, seem to
dodge
the police. A lot of bluff has been put up about
'scientific' astrology. I propose to show how the game is
really worked.
Let us pay a visit to one of the best known of them. We
find an expensive apartment in one of the best parts of the
city. We are not very much impressed by the furniture. There
is a good deal of muddle, a good deal of junk, a complete
absence of taste. The spider of this web is a grey.haired old
woman of exceedingly shrewd expression. She explains to us
by pamphlets and by word that she is a really 'scientific'
investigator. In setting up a horoscope, for example, she is
very careful to calculate the places of the planets, not only to
degrees, but to minutes and seconds. That sounds wonder·
fully accurate, doesn't it? However, when it comes to making
the real calculations upon which astrology is based, an error
of ten or twelve degrees is of no account at all. Which is
rather like announcing that a man took 2 hours, 33 minutes
and 14.25 seconds to run several miles. The alleged accuracy
is quite meaningless. It is only
a
sham to impress the client. It
/low Horoscopes are Faked
"/{'isler Crowley
210
is also to be observed that owing to the pressure of business
she has these calculations made by her chauffcl�r. This, I
suppose, is a point of war economy.
211
that a horoscope (granting for a moment the genuineness of
the science) is a complete map of the life and character of the
native. To read one properly would mean at least a week's
ignorant of the first principles of
continuous work. Bm the demand is for 5 dollar and 10
astronomy. She has no conception, for example, of the Solar
dollar horoscopes; and obviously no more than a few minutes
System as a Disk, but imagines that the planets arc all over
can be given to each one if the lady is to clear her forty or
She
is
the place,
grotesquely
like
raisins in a plum-pudding. She calls her
fifty thousand a year. It is also necessary to give a good deal
country house the Zodiac - and doesn't know what the
of apparent value for the money. There arc only 1 2 si�,'ns and
Zodiac is.
9 planets to be considered. For the influence of the rising
One word more on the 'scientific accuracy' business. If
sign, therefore, one only needs twelve multigraphed pages. As
astrology is to be done at a1l, if there is any sense in it
each planet can be in any sign we shall need
whatever, which
the
multigraph pages t o cover the action o f the planets. Each
calculations depend upon a fairly close approximation of the
planet can be roughly in fortunate or unfortunate aspect, and
I
do
not
for one
moment
deny,
9
times 1 2
hour and minute of birth. For example, the seventh house,
1 6 2 more pages wil l be needed. These pages need not be
the place of the setting sun, refers to marriage, so that if a
prepared right away. A new one can be dictated
person is born with an unfortunate planet like Saturn setting,
aspect turns up in practice. These pages are all pigeon-holed,
he may expect an unfortunate marriage. It is obviously of
and by means of a chart the astrologer can tell ber secretary
vital importance for the inquirer to know whether Saturn was
which paper to pick out for any horoscope that comes along.
setting or not. There is a certain amount of latitude, from
The secretary can then pick them out and pin them togetller
about one to two hours, for Saturn would remain in that
in a very few minutes, and there is your horoscope.
house for about that period. But where the birth hour is not
known
within
about
an
hour
the
horoscope
becomes
The objection to this proceeding is fairly
as
each
obvious. In
practically all horoscopes there are indications which clash
worthless. If the time were six hours carlier, Saturn would be
with each other. To judge such a horoscope properly, the
in business or
whole thing should be taken into individual consideration,
in
the
mid·heaven
and bring
misfortune
reputation rather' than in marriage. However to the fashion­
and a reconcilement obtained. With the 'reach-me-down'
able astrologer this must not matter_ She has to get the
method all this is necessarily ignored, and the client may be
dollars from the people who do not know in the least at what
surprised to find on page two of the horoscope, that she is
hour of the day or night they were born. She has the
kind and considerate, and on page four, that she is selfish and
impudence to assure them that it doesn't matter, all the time
insisting upon her wonderful scientific accuracy.
There is no need to cast any doubt upon the sincerity of
the belief of the woman. She talks astrology day and night.
inconsiderate. There is further a great theoretical objection;
which is that a horoscope, to be a horoscope at aH, must be a
live thing. To get them out in this mechanical fashion is to
offer a corpse instead.
She dreams of it. She sets a horoscope for her vast family of
It is true that the astrologer sometimes condescends to
cats and dogs, and is scared out of her life when some planet
look upon a horoscope as a whole, and dictate one or two
threatens her horoscope.
pages at the end, but this is not always done. There is no
But the people who deceive themselves most effectually
guarantee that it will be done.
are those who deceive others most effectually. Whether it is
It is probably difficult to take legal exception to this
knavery or folly docs not matter very much. What I want to
branch of the business, but it is only a very small branch. It is
do is to explain to the people who are paying five dollars that
the thin end of the wedge. The fortune-telling, pure and
they are not getting genuine astrology at all . It may be said
simple, comes afterwards. Tht astrologer issues a series of
Alcisler Crowley
212
How lIoroscopes are Faked
so-called monthly forecasts which explain how the actual
position of the planets in the heavens at the time should react
213
It is all done under the cloak o f astrology. Mr G calls, and
looks for a soul-mate; the astrologer soon finds some woman,
upon any given horoscope. Another set of muhigraphed
'whose Venus is on his Sun', and arranges a little dinner
examined by a lawyer, for we acc now getting into LIle danger
astrology ; the old lady would be genuinely shocked if you
pages is of course required for this. These pages arc carefully
zone.
party.
All
in
the
sacred causc
of astrology - scientific
called her by her rcal name. But she takes her commission
The phraseology is very carefully chosen, for nothing must
just the same, and superstition is so extraordinarily strong
instead of saying, 'You will be lucky in speculation during
of which the victim can be fleeced. This being the really
be said which would be indictable as a prediction. Thus,
the first week of October', the phrase is 'financial conditions
that when faith is established, there is no limit to the amount
dangerous part of the work, the astrologer is extraordinarily
seem to be operating favourably during the first week in
careful about making appointments. One has to have very
year,
police are doing. For example a few months ago it was
October'. These monthly forecasts are received at 24 dollars a
and
as
they
require
a
I!ood
deal
of
trouble in
preparation, it is evident that the cheapness has something
behind it. These forecasts arc what you may call bait, and the
fish to be caught is the 'personal consultation'.
Suppose I am told in my forecasts that financial conditions
are favorable for a certain period, [ am going to ask for more.
good introductions. Word quickly goes round as to what the
rumoured that a red-haired detective had been engaged, and
all women wi th red hair, unless previously known, had to
pass the 33rd degree before they reached the centre of the
web. There is no doubt in the mind of the astrologer that she
is breaking the law. She lives in continual terror of the police.
I want to know exactly how to make the best use of the
She knows well enough that it was only a fluke that she was
This appointment may ostensibly be a
doUar or a 1 0 dollar
boasts openly of her 'puU' \.nth certain society leaders who
have to let the lady in on a percentage of profits on the
is easy to obtain. Will not Mrs Isabel Goodwin2 5 9 look to it?
opportunity: so [ ring up the lady and get an appointment.
5
one; but in reality I may have to pay much more for it. [ may
gamble in 'war babies'. Similarly, if [ am an actress, or other
not convicted at her previous prosecutions. However, she
can protect her from the police. Properly managed, evidence
easily exploitable person, I may have to pay a great deal
i
extra. Once the Oy is n
the web, the spider can dictate its
own terms.
Women are particularly foolish with astrologers. They tell
all their love affairs. Again, even cautious Mrs A will tell one
side of a story; prudent Miss B next day the other side. The
astrologer becomes mistress of these women, body and soul.
Perhaps she does not blackmail them; but she is in a position
to do so if she wi shes. At the very least, the victims realise
their position, and are careful to do anything the astrologer
may ask.
.
Then again there is the matrimonial agency graft; and· the
highly profitable business of e'ltremeUeusc. (We do not assert
that in the particular case we are discussing these things are
done, but they could be done. It is immoral to permit the
existence of a secret of this kind.)
259. A popular American aslrologer.
BATRACHOPHRENOBOOCOSMOMACHIA
Batrachophrenoboo cosmomachia
sub fi
gura
DXXXVl
Within His skull exist daily thirteen thousand myriads of
Worlds, which draw their existence from flim, and by Him
are upheld.
_
I.R. Q. 2 6 0 ii,A3.
O. Let the Practicus study the textbooks of astronomy,
travel, if need be, to a land where the sun and stars are
visible, and observe the heavens with the best telescopes to
which he may have access. Let him commit to memory the
principal facts, and (at least roughly) the figures of the
science.
.
.
I . Now, since these figures will leave no direct ImpressIOn
with any precision upon his mind, let him adopt this
practice A :
A. Let the Practicus be seated before a bare square table,
and let an unknown number of small simi
l ar objects be
thrown by his chela from time to time upon the table, and
by that chela be hastily gathered up.
Let the Practicus declare at the glance, and the chela
confirm by his count, the number of such objects.
The practice should be for a quarter of an hour thrice
daily. The maximum number of objects should at first be
seven. This maximum
should
increase by one at each
practice, provided that not a single mistake is made by the
Praclicus in appreciating the number thrown.
260. See Mather·s The Kabbalah Unveiled for the translation of that
section of The Zohor from which this quotation is taken. Jdra Rabba
Qade$h, The Greater Holy Assembly, pp. 109.257.
Aleislt:r Crow/('y
218
Hu t rae 110pitre110 bo ocos 111 0 ilia e" ill
This practice should continue assiduously for at least
keeping well in mind the relative si£cs of, and the distance
one year.
between, the planet and its satellite.
The quickness of the chela in gathering up the objects is
lie will probably find the final trick of mind to be a
expected to increase with lime. The practice need not be
constant disappearance of the image, and the appearance
limited to a quarter of an hour thrice daily after a lime,
but increased with discretion. Care must be taken to detect
the first symptom of fatigue, and to stop, i f possible, even
,
before It threatens. The practised psychologist learns to
recognise even minute hesitations that mark the forcing of
the attention.
of the same upon a smaller scale. This trick he must Oluwit
,
•
by constancy of endeavour.
He will then add in turn Venus, �Iars, �tcrcury and the
Sun. It is pcrmissable at this stage to change the point of
vie\
� to the centre of the Sun, and to do so may add
.
stability to the conception.
The Practicus may
2. Alternating with the above, let the Practicus begin this
practice B:
B. It is assumed that he has thoroughly conquered the
elementary difficulties of Dharana, and is able to prevent
mental pictures from altering shape, size and colour against
his will.
Seatcd in the open air, let him endeavour to form a
complete mental picture of himself and his immediate
surroundings. It is important that he should be in the
centre of such picture, and able to look frecly in all
directions.
The finished picture should be a complete
consciousness of the whole, fixed, clear, and definite.
�t
him gradually add to this picture by including
obJccts more and more distant, until he have an image of
the whole field of vision.
He will probably discover that i t is very difficult to
increase the apparent size of the picture as he proceeds,
and it should be his most earnest endeavour to do so. He
should seek in particular to appreciate distances, almost to
the point of combating the laws of perspective.
3. These practices A and B accomplished, and his studies in
astronomy completed, lct him attempt this practice C:
C.
Let the Practicus form a mental picture of the Earth, in
particular
striving
to
realise
the
size of the earth in
comparison with himself, and let him not be content until
by assiduity he has well succeeded. Let him add the Moon,
219
then add the Asteroids, Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. The utmost attention to
detail is now necessary, as the picturc is highly complex,
apart from the difficulty of appreciating relative size and
distance.
Let this picture be practised month after month until it
is absolutely perfect. The tendency which may manifest
itself to pass into Dhyana and Samadhi must be resolutely
combated with the whole strength of the mind.
Let the Practicus then re·commence the picture, starting
from the Sun, and adding the planets one by one, each
with its proper motion, until he have an image perfect in
all respects of the Solar System as it actually exists. Let
him
particularly
note
that
unless
the
apparent
size
approximate to the real, his practicc is wastcd. Let him
then add a comct to the picturc; he may find, perhaps,
that the path of this comet may assist him to expand the
sphere of his mental vision until it include a star.
And thus,
gathering one star after another,
let his
contemplation become vast as the heaven, in space and
time ever aspiring to the perception of the Body of Nuit;
yea, of the Body of Nuit.
Index
•
Adams,J.e., 9
Airip�. Comdius, ISS
Aiwan, x
i
Akxand�r II, TIIaI", 156
A1examkr VI, Pope. 73, 119, 124, 181
Andreae,J,V.,76
Anthroposophy, 78
Anubis. 50
Apollo, 139
Arinode,40
Alquith, Hubt;rt, 129
Anni Plane, 40
Astronomy. 9, 1 1
Backhaus, W., 76, 143
Baha, Abdul (Abbas Effendi), 126
Balfour, AJ., 125
Baluc, HonorC de, 22, 78, 79, 143,
m
Bapho�t,49
Buhkirtseff, Marie c., 97, 132, 194
Bauddairr, C, 22, 63-4, 86, 96, 157,
181
Ikunt, Anruc, 124, 173
Bilmarck, 0., 21, 97, 155, 181
Blue, William, 162, 163, 185, 197
BiavalSky, H.P., 68, 124, 160-1, \90-\
Bock,)., 10
Bod",'s Law, 1 0
Bonheur, Rou., 97, 157
Borgia, Caelal", 199, 152, 177
Bonk, William (Datas), 142
Boulang<'r, �nen.l, 167
Bright,John, Hil
Brougham. Lord, 132, 153
Browning, Robt:rt, 65, 116, 177
Bryan, WJ., 71
Buchanm, R.W., 201
Bums,John, IS3
Burton, Sir Richard, 21, 65, 157, 175
Byron, Lord, 78, 79,97, 135, 1S6, I75
Caligula, 12\
Caput Draconis, 38
Carlos, Don, 132
Carlyle, Thormu, 32, 173, 18
Camot, M_F_5., 168
Carrington, Hercward, 79
Canol!, Lc"';Ii, 69, 158
Cauda Draconili, 58
Cefalu, IX
Olamberlain,JoliCph, 165, 166
Olarlel I., 66, 70, 128
Olllllei ll., 18, 205
Olatletton, Thomas, 161, 200
Olerubic Signs, 122
Olopin, F" 66, 70, 74, 80, 152, \81
Olurc:hill, Sir Win$lon, 71, 141, 200,
201
Carencc, Duke of, 132
C�menccau, Georges, 66, 67
Code of Manu, 128
Coleridge, 66, 76-7, 79, 1S0-I, 185
CoUtlcttd WQr., (Crowley), 58
CoUinl, Mable, 81, 150
Compton, Fay, 142
ConfuciuI, 128
Constable,John, 181
Copernicus, 22, 64, 75, 76, 150, 197
Cromwt'U, Oliver, 125, 126, 172, 173
Dante, 21, 65, 77, 127, 147, 179, 205
Due, Phyllil and lena, 149
Darwin, OIarleli, 15, 64, 119, 178
Caudet, Alphonse, 165
Davy, Sir Humphrey, 115, 153, 193
Death (Tarot), .7
Deeanleli, 24.
Devi
l (Tarot), 48
Dhanna . 2 1 8
Dhyana, 219
Dickens., OIarleli, 76, 106, 151, 185
Disnc1i, Benjamin, 17.5
Dowson, Ernest, 72
Dreyful, Alfred, 66, 67, 69, 81, 132
Dryden, J ohn, .52
Dumaurier, George, 78, 79, 158
Dumas, Alexandre, 72, 78, 79, 148
DUrer, Albrecht, 146, 179
Durning-Lawrence, Sir E. 64, 16.5, 177
Edalji, George, 98, 142, 198
222
Index
Alcisler Crowit'Y
Edison, T., 21, 74, 77, 79, 124, 187
Edward III, 182
Edw:
..d VI, 140, 20'
Edward VII, 70, 97. 16�, 174
FJial, Gco�, 64, 80, 1M
Elizabeth I. 74, 137, 189, 191
Ellis, Ibvdoclr., 72, 129
Emperor (Tarol). 44, 47, 49
Er.umul, 74,80, 147, 205
Elhrr, 1 2
Evvu. Ev�linr. viii
Fan,day, M
ichael, I l!I
faure, Felix, 95, 138, 168
','dipc, Luiz, 145
Franz. JOKph, Emperor, 80, 158, 159
Frc<krick the Greal, 188
t'roudc,J.A., 181
FulJc:r, J.F.C., 197
Gabouriau. Emile, 97
Galle,J.G., 9
Gambctta, Leon, 167
Garfield, President, 159
Genius, 1 19·21
George 111, 66, 118, 1 5 7
George V, 70, 74, i S 2
Gladstone, 6 7 , 74, 77, 79, 1 5 1 , 200·1
Goethe, 22, 69, 76, 112·1', 160,
178-9, 185
Golden Dawn, Hermetic O. of, vii, 70,
190
Gordon, General, 159
Gould,Jay. 7 1 , 166, 200, 202
Grant, Cfcncral, 64, 75, 157
Gwynn, NcO, 115, 155, 203
Had.,•• 56
Hamilton, Sir William, 146, 186
Hardy. Thomas, 165
Hannsworth, Sir Alfred, 77·9. 137
Hanni, Fr.tnk, 154
Heate , 3 8
Hcliopbalus, 204
Henry V. 182
lIenry VI, 163
Henry VII, 182
Henry VIII. 181
Hennit (Tarot), 46
Hermit's Hymn (Crowley), 58-01
Herschcll, Sir WilliillTl. 1 1 8
Holy Grail. 4!i
Holy Guardian Angel, ix
lIopkins, Matthew, 6
Houdini, 142
HoWl:, Ellie, 70
Hugo, Victor, 148, 205
Hulll". David, 13, 18
Huxley, T.ll, J:'J. 75. 157, 191
lIuysmans,j·k., 85
IbfCn, 1-1., 84
Jaek the Rippd, 132
jillms 11, 145
james, William, 49
jOil1ll1f Arc, 159, 1 7 8
jUllUZ, 158
justice (TiII"Ot), 47
Ka.nt. lrrunanud, 19, ISO, 188
Kephn, 50
KiopJord, Anna., 125. 192
Kipling. Rudyard, 137, 140
IQing5or, 54, 121
Knights Templars. 49
Krug.:r. Paul, 64, 76. 157, 200, 201
Kundaiini, 199
Langtry, Lilly, 97, 129, 130
Le Verrier, U., 9
Leopold II, 188
ltvi, Eliphas, 49, 68
Lilith, 77
Und·af·Hageby, Emilie, I43
Wngfellow. H..W., 33
Louix:t, Emile, 168
Louis XIV, 145
Louis XV, 72
Louis XVI, 76, 164, 190
Lo\'Crs (Tarot), 44, 4!i
Loyola, St. 19nat
iU$, 85
Ludwig II, 71, 126, 188, 201, 2034
Luther, 65, 78-9, 97, ISS, 161, 185
Lytton, Lord, 68. 97, 146, 1 8 1
MacCarthy, Maud, 143
Maeterlinek, �l, 68, 96, 132, 190, 1 9 1
MiI1ldevill.., Bcmard�58
MiI1ln, Tom, 128
Marie Antoinett", 165, 190
Marmont. Marshal, 1 1 5
MarTi""" 1 5
Marston, P.B., 78-80, J:'J0. 131
�Iary Qu«n of Scots, 113, 1 4 1 , 187,
188
Madoth, ...ii
MilSter of the Temple, 63, 198
Math"matio,24
Mathers, S.L, 190, 2 1 7
Maupassant. Guy d e , 8 1 , 130, 195
Maximilian, Emperor, 158
Maybrick, Florenc", 132
McLanchthon, Philip. 161
Mtpod", Cko dc, 1 4 1 , 188
Michael Angdo, 21, 67. 70, 75, 112,
119. 153, 192·3
Miles, Eustace. 79
Mill. john Stuart, 146
Mirandola, P
ico d", 69, 143
Moli�K,J·B.,
Moon, 16, 17, 22
Moon (Tarot), 50
MooK, Thomas, 13!:!
Morgan,j.P., 22,68. 166, 167, 1 9 1
Monit;, William, 1 3 5
Murray, John, 1 7 5
Musset. A1fT..d dc, 66, 153, 1 9 7
Napoleon, 22, 64, 78·9, 1 15·16, 1 27'8,
157, 190·1
N..w Aeon, ix
New York. 209
Newton, Sir Isaac, 119. ISO, 173
Nicholu II, Tsar. 138
Nodes of the Moon, 38
Nordau, Max, 1 9 1
Nostradamus, 1 1 2 , 1 1 3 , 16!:!
Nuit, 54, 219
Olcott, Colonel, 68, 160, 1 6 1
Opposition, 26
Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.). 49
Owen, Dr. 0., 64
Paganism, 34-6
Pan. 118, 1 1 9
Pankhunt, Syl"ia, 134
Par:illel, 26
Panifal.54
Pasteur. L., 22, 64, 67, 70, 157, 178,
180
Pani, Adelina, 67. 73, 16!:!
f'tlinicr, lIarry, 142
Pentagram, 44, 48, 150
Peuarch, 2 1 , 67-8, 74, 77, 79, 147,
181
Phallus, 42
Pitman, Sir Isaac, 15 I, 176
Plato. 40
Pluto, 56
PI>", E.,A., 84
Pope. or High Prl"u (Tarot), 44
Poseidon (Neptunel,!:!6
Proclui, 161
Qabalah,40
Qua
in, Sir Richard, 154
Quinaries, 24
Rais, Gille's d", 85, 1 1 9
Ramakrishna Paramaham.a, 1 3 1
Raphael. 179
Raphael (Ephemeris), 28
223
R�mbrandt. 179
Reuograd�, 30
Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 145
Rhodes, Cecil. 64, 69, 75. 127. 181
Rimbaud, Arthur, 72
Roberu, Lord, 67, 158
RobespieI'TC, 71, 169, 173
Rodin, Auguste. 190
Roosc\'Clt. TheodoK, 70, 76, 133, 182
Rosebery, Lord, 125
ROIl"ncr<�utz, Olrinian, (Andreae). 76
Rossetti, D.G., 67, 71, 75, 18, 160.
200, WI
RUfkin, John, 32, 65, 70, 7 8 . 7 9 , 155,
200, 201
S;.de. Marquis d�, 85, 1 1 9
SainU·Bcu...e. C.A., 148
Samadhi,219
Sand, �orge,67, 147
Sappho, 58, 67
Saturn, 62
Savonarola, 65, 734, 78·9, 136. 185-6
Schimeon Ben Yochai, Rabbi, 40
Schumann, Robert, 152
Schwob, Marcel. 190
Semisex.tilc, 26
Semi'liqu�, 26
Scphiroth, 40
Scsqui'quadraU, 26
Sextile, 26
ShakeJpCarc, 21, 74, 80. 112, 154,
179.181
Shakti. 4 0
Shaw, Bernard. 78, 79, 129,205
Shelly, P.B.• 21, 23, 68, 71, 109. 110,
120,129, 140, 141. 194, 1 9 5
Shi,'a, 40
SideKal Time, 28
SiI\'Cr Star, Order of th�, 122
Smith,joSl"ph, 65. 144, 181
Solar System, 9. 1 1 , 24 , 2 1 0 , 2 1 9
SOlo...·yo.... V.S., 160, 161
Sp.-neer, H..rb..n, 1 3 , 64, 154. 173
Squan.26
Star (Tarot). 49
Steiner, Rudolf, 78, 79. 131
Steinheil, Madame, 138, 185
St....enson. R.L., 80, 81, 126. 173
Strafford, Earl of, 12!:!
Strauss, Richard, 71, 134, 205
Stnngth (Tarot). 45, 46
Sun, 10, I I , 1 6 , 3 6 , 4 2 , 49
Sunday. Billy, 133
Swedcnbo'1, E., 76, 127, 193
Swinburne, Ale., 22, 58, 65, 78, 113,
129, 157, 162, 163, 197, 198
Symonds. John, 70, 161
Symons. Anhur. 72
224
Alcister Crowley
Syrinx, 1 1 9
Tarot, vil, viii, 4 3 , 1 5 7 . 158
TarOI Trump'. 43·50
Tchaikovskr, P., 7 1 , 74, 164
Temperana: (Tarot), 47, 48
Tennyson, Lord Alfred, 65, 1 5 1
Theosophical Society, 124, 160
Theosophy, 125
Tolstoy, 1-, 76, 157, 194
fue of Life, vii, ix, 43
Trine, 26
Tumer, J.N.W:, 69, 134, 181
Undine, 58
Vaillant, E.U, 98, 132, 194
Verlainc, Paul, 72
Vernal Equinox, 25
Victoria, Queen, 76, 153, 192, 193
Vmci, Leonardo da, 179
Vivckananda, Swami, 1:'11, 185
Wagner, Richard, 22, 7 1 , 80, 1 5 2 , 1 8 8
Wallace, A. R., 157, 178, 1 7 9
Watteau, Antoine, 1 2
\\lhistitr,J.A.M., 32, 1 8 1
Whitman, Wah, 33
Wil�rforce, Bishop, 13
Wilde, Oscar, 66, 78, 79, 130, 197
Wilhelm I!, 7 1 , 76, 80, 1 1 3 , 127
Wilkie, Sir Da,�d, 138
William III, 71, 156
Wol!1:1ey, Lord, 158
Woman, 36
Wood, Sir Henry, 138
Yang, 40
Yeats, W.B., 70, 1 3 2
Yetzirah, 40, 139
Yin, 39, 40
Young, Brigham, 69, 76, 143
Zam<:nhof, Dr. I�, 193
Zodiac, 24
Zola, 22, 66, 68, 74, 76, 80, 195, 197
Zoroaster, 56